


Kingdom Come

by LamiaHypnosia



Series: Outside The Fire [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Drama, F/M, Gen, Horror, Humor, Romance, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-29
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-09-23 04:55:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 21
Words: 52,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17073872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LamiaHypnosia/pseuds/LamiaHypnosia
Summary: As the Commonwealth braces itself for war, ex tribal Daniella Prower seeks her fortune- be it with brains, a 10mm or her looks. A shrewd trader travelling alone, she knows a bit too much about the mysterious biological plague known as the Thorn that has been ravaging a few of the homesteads.Hunter Kirkland is the typical handsome loner type with an almost supernatural skill with his sniper rifle. He hunts Raiders for sport but is he human, a new type of synth, or a devil in disguise?When the paths of these two strangers cross, both of their pasts are inexplicably tied to the future of the Commonwealth.They find help in form of a Brotherhood Knight named Diane McKagan. With her aid under a tentative alliance between the Commonwealth Minutemen and the Brotherhood of Steel the pair must stop Danni's old tribe, the Reverent, before the Thorn consumes them all.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Special thanks to Urik for his help with this behemoth. Hunter Kirkland is his original character so extra thanks for his use.

Sunrise crept over the horizon as Thomas Isaacson stepped down onto the front porch. He was one of those people who could rise without an alarm and he did so today as he has for the past fifteen years of his life. He and his wife Karen scratched out this land west of Lexington for themselves and they'd been blessed to watch it flourish into a large farm. Lush stalks of razorgrain whispered in the morning breeze, tato vines crept about their wire stands and the green tops of carrots that if the weather was good, the radiation was moderate and the raiders kept at bay would soon feed all the settlements on this side of the river. Thomas' breath misted in the December air. He paused to savor all the familiar sounds of the awakening household. Karen rustling about to fix breakfast and the half spoken half yawned pleas of 'oh Mom, just five more minutes?' from the children. Brent was his oldest, a strapping boy who could already shoot straighter than Thomas ever could at that age. He talked Minutemen morning and night hoping to join up and was content with the answer of 'next year'. Next was Sherri his only daughter who was already beginning to take notice of men. She strove to be a caravan trader and the youngest, James, promised he'd refurbish a robot to protect her on the road.

  
They were all good children. Thomas had taught them right from wrong and he and Karen felt a little ambition beyond farming was normal and if they fell on to hard times or made a mistake they'd simply come back home until they found a new dream. It was their duty as parents to nourish and cultivate the young minds as they did the crops. Karen was born in Diamond City and had the closes thing to a formal education one could acquire where Thomas only learned numbers from his mother. He'd met Karen while struggling to read a road sign. They'd built this life together and Thomas silently thanked God every morning for the chance to see a new sunrise- a new day with all its possibilities. Many people sadly attributed God with the ruin about them. Long ago this land was bright and somehow the Creator above was blamed for its destruction. But Thomas knew it was man's fault, man's greed that had delved into the impossible to do the unthinkable. He knew his ancestors' faith and tenacity led him here to return to working the earth, to coax her into provide for them again even if they didn't deserve it.

  
  
The fields awaited and Thomas stepped carefully among the cold furrows hunting for signs of mole rats. He picked along the rows for a good while then doubled back to the water pump. Passing the brahmin pen the two headed beasts lowed softly clamoring for his attention. From the morning mist appeared a phantom in steel, a hulking abomination of metal blazoned with the sword and gears- a Brotherhood of Steel soldier in power armor. Thomas didn't like or dislike the Brotherhood. They had their way and he had his- as far as he was concerned if they wanted to comb ruins for dusty machinery and clutch at the very things that crumbled the world that was their business. Their airship, the Prydwen had arrived and Thomas imagined everyone within miles stopped and stared in awe as he and his family had done.  


"Good morning." Said the soldier, his voice carefully modulated in that electronic filter.  


"Mornin'." Thomas replied. "what brings you here?" He hoped he sounded polite enough.  


"The Brotherhood needs your crops. Will you donate?" Pushing a bucket under the spigot Thomas threw a glance over his shoulder. 

"Me and mine need to get through the winter, too. Why don't you tin cans ever get out to Diamond City and trade like the rest of us? " 

"The Brotherhood provides you protection for your contribution-" Thomas waved a hand and with a grunt lifted the bucket heavy with water. "Minutemen provide and don't charge nothin'. Listen, if you-"  


A jolt of pain spread through his back like burning claws raking his flesh and the dirt came up to smack Thomas, the bucket clattering to the ground its contents soaking into the soil. From the porch he heard a gasp. Groggily Thomas turned his head. His daughter stood there, Sherri, the gem of his eye. She'd probably come to tell him breakfast was ready. Dropping the rag in her hand she covered her mouth and whimpered.  
"Baby," Thomas said calmly "go inside." The girl was frozen in fear. Behind her stood Brent, eyes blazing, his rifle in hand. This was wrong. This was all wrong. The Brotherhood were here in peace.

"Son..." Thomas pleaded. He held their gazes. _Take care of them_ , he thought. Then everything went black.


	2. Down The Rabbit Hole

The dispatcher scratched down notes at a frantic pace. "Isaacson? That was the name? " Leaning back in his chair he sighed, silently cursing the Brotherhood. Even now their floating fortress loomed on the horizon, mockingly. "Garvey! A farm's been attacked."  


Preston Garvey rushed to his side. "Where?" In spite of the morning chill sweat began to bead on his dark brow. Though all those brave enough to set foot outside Diamond City's green walls seemed to have been born with a gun in their hand the general put forth they should be trained in the finer points of slaying the various ills of the Commonwealth. Sticking together and fighting back to back against packs of feral ghouls so no man might be taken unaware. Going for the face of a mirelurk, its only weakness. Staying light on your feet when mole rats came for the crops. Raiders and Gunners, deathclaws and super mutants, well, they could only be bested by vigilance and an even temper. Preston himself had not imagined he would be the one to do the training. He'd though the General would have chosen Ronnie Shaw, the hardened veteran of dozens of such battles but she'd been placed in charge of the armory. Surely she'd found it insulting but as it was now Preston considered quartermaster a promotion. These settlers were green and eager- Ronnie would just chew them up and spit them out. Wiping his forehead with his sleeve Preston turned to gesture to the group to continue their practice and groaned inwardly as they bashed an imaginary enemy with the butts of their rifles all at different times. Give it time, he told himself.  


"West outside of Lexington. Some Brotherhood of Steel tough just took down the owner. " the dispatcher said then wet his lip, adding in a lower voice "and to make matters worse a girl is missing."  


Preston clenched his jaw. He'd heard of the Brotherhood of Steel. Soldiers who combed the ruins of the apocalypse for technology with a strict code of ethics. A murder and a kidnapping wasn't their style. He took a deep breath. "I'll tell her myself."

Willing his legs to work Preston trudged through the courtyard and into the long hallway. With each step he felt being pulled closer and closer to oblivion. Just a few feet shy of the General's quarters he stopped. She was there, frilled shirt opened at the collar her frock coat lay on the bed waiting to be donned, the metal breastplate on a stand and the tricorn and gloves on the table at her elbow. A tall slim woman, freckled and bespectacled- she'd be the image of a librarian or a scholar were it not for the cut that carved from her right brow bone across the bridge of her nose to the middle of the left cheek. It was a half healed unfortunate looking thing and occasionally she traced its path with her fingers as though she didn't remember it was there.  
Preston moved forward pausing in the doorway. The remains of breakfast still sat on the table as well as last night's dinner. And the night before, and the night before. Diane McKagan was not a tidy woman, nor always polite, but as she always said there was a method to her madness. It had been said that one's dwelling was a reflection of the self and from an outsider's perspective the present General was a lazy chaotic mess. The frock coat, a handsome colonial style piece done in blue wool however had been treated with due care and respect, probably the cleanest thing in the Castle. Diane had been most humbled when it was presented to her, and seeing it worn again admittedly made Preston swell with pride. Even Ronnie Shaw no nonsense tough as nails beamed, saying "Well now you look every bit a general."  


"General." he began quietly. Looking up she hummed in acknowledgement of his presence. "There's been an attack. The Brotherhood of Steel."  
Reaching up Diane pushed back her dark hair, the faint glint of metal on her wedding band scratched and worn.

"Give me all the details." There was still a distinct southern drawl to her voice.  


He did. Diane inhaled and the air felt heavy in Preston's chest as she deliberated and began to idly shuffle the papers on the table."The Brotherhood outmatches us in firepower and, well, everything else. They could waste us from the sky at any moment if they wanted to. Question is, why kill civilians?"  


Preston shook his head. "They said they're here to help and the attack was unprovoked. All I can think of is that he was a synth."  


Rising Diane crossed the room. Preston followed and setting down his musket waiting for Diane to finish lacing her shirt and locking the breastplate into place.  
"Soldiers often do things without their superior's knowledge." She said as she slipped her arms into the blue frock coat Preston held out for her. She didn't seem to expect help but flashed him a brief smile of gratitude. Then she tied her hair into a hasty tail at the back of her neck, pulled on her gloves and set the tricorn on her head. "The Elder and I are going to have a little chat."  


"I'll go with you-" He paused adding "that is if you want me to go. Brotherhood isn't thrilled about sharing the Commonwealth with us. We might not get a warm welcome."  


Diane adjusted her glasses, a rather unneeded gesture. It usually meant something else entirely. "I need you to stay here and monitor the situation. Get our guys out there to help the Isaacsons in any way they can. Check the area for any sign of the girl. If you see any Brotherhood steer clear of them for now."  


"Yes, General. Was there anything else?"  


"Believe me, I don't relish the idea of speaking to Maxson or being in the same room with him. But he's a man like any other- hard headed and passionate, but we'll see if he can be reasoned with."  


"He's also a man surrounded by heavily armed soldiers who will die for him at a moment's notice. I wonder what it is he did -or does- that inspires such devotion."  


Diane clasped her hands behind her back. "Well we'll just have to see. " She started for the door. "I'll have to see if Paladin Danse can give me a second of his precious time to arrange a meeting. Hopefully I'll be back soon with good news."  


Preston sighed inwardly. He silently prayed Diane would not stick her foot in her mouth and make matters worse. He knew she was capable. The settlers knew she was capable. Already Diane's reputation about the Commonwealth was growing. Early on she and one Robert Joseph MacCready tore up super mutants, feral ghouls, raiders and all manner of nasties plaguing the settlements. Even he'd heard stories about some of their stranger jobs and in raider circles she was known as Black Heart, though in truth that was just what she called her favorite gun. But now sitting pretty on a decent sum of caps Diane had turned her full attention to the Minutemen. The Castle was comfortable again, thriving as it had only in story.  


"Preston."Ronnie Shaw said firmly. "Daydreamin' again?" The woman was slight, a head shorter than Preston and still commanded respect even from the hardest Minutemen. She'd been with them longer than he'd been alive.  


Preston glanced down at her. "I was just...thinking."  


Glancing off in Diane's wake Ronnie smacked her lips. "Where's General Wonderland off to? Off to chase the white rabbit? Come on, we've got fresh meat, both the rations kind and the wannabe Minutemen kind to tend to."  
Following her Preston perhaps wisely chose to not upbraid Ronnie for the Wonderland comment but even now he had a sinking feeling Alice had just gone down the rabbit hole. "General McKagan's going to meet with the Brotherhood of Steel about the Isaacson incident."  
"Oh?" Ronnie said absently as they passed a trio of settlers, conversing about Diamond City, raiders, tato prices, how much their back hurt. She smiled, well maybe smile was too strong a word. Her mouth lifted in what was supposed to be a smile. Folks were drilling in the yard, running in and out of the kitchens and the very heart of the Castle seemed to beat again. "Them Brotherhood knuckleheads'll answer for what they did. If not we can always blast their galdurn tub out of the sky."  
"It won't come to that." Preston said hastily. _At least, I hope it won't._


	3. A Little Help From My Friends

For all Danse's talk of Elder Maxson Diane still felt someone with the title of Elder should be just that- aged and weathered with decades of experience. Not the individual standing before her straight as a ramrod, bearded, dark of hair and clothing.He still looked worn for his apparent youth, the weight of command plain on his features. Diane felt slightly ridiculous in her colonial attire here among the soldiers and their machines. Paladin Danse stood nearby, agleam in power armor. He noticed her set her mouth in disdain for his eyebrows went up slightly to telegraph a silent question. Rearranging her features Diane turned back to Elder Maxson orating passionately about the filth that must be cleansed in the Commonwealth.  
"Great speech." Diane murmured. _I'll have to give a rousing speech or two one of these days._ As the group dispersed Diane stepped forward, floundering for several seconds as she tried desperately to frame her next words in a non accusatory structure.  
"Paladin Danse tells me the general of the Minutemen wishes a word." Maxson said. "It was my understanding the Minutemen collapsed sometime ago." He'd read the reports. The Minutemen- a citizen militia unit named after the colonists of old reborn as protectors of the common people in a nuclear wasteland. Heretofore their generals had been much older and male. Yet here was this woman armored and clad in period dress and working her jaw idly in an effort to focus her thoughts. Maxson had been born in steel, his ancestor founded the Brotherhood. The Minutemen had destroyed itself from within- unfocused, unstructured, undisciplined. She was surely elevated by necessity to this position but wore the cloak of command with unease.  
Diane's chin lifted with pride and slowly she dialed up the authority tempering it carefully with charm. "We're rebuilding. It's been difficult. I'm sure you've seen our flag flying over Fort Independence not far from here. What's made it especially difficult are attacks on unarmed civilians." She paused to give herself a moment to think. Thankfully Danse took over.  
"Elder, if I may" Danse said. "Several witnesses saw an individual in Brotherhood knight armor gun down an unarmed civilian without provocation."  
Maxson's eyes flicked briefly to Danse. "This is a serious accusation. The Brotherhood is here to defend the people of the Commonwealth."  
While stealing all their shit, Diane thought. But she said"And the Minutemen are here to defend the Commonwealth. The settlers look to us for protection and we want to cooperate with the Brotherhood any way we can."  
"There was no altercation." Danse went on." I'm having Scribe Haylen draw up a full report which should reach you within the hour."  
"Either way," Diane put in "that's how it looks. I wanted to bring this matter to your attention. I'd rather not overstep any boundaries." She studied the elder's face. If he was anything like Danse -a soldier born and bred, a heart of steel with the Brotherhood's ideals held in the highest regard- he couldn't fathom this betrayal and any doubt would be plain to see. Indeed, in Maxson's face she could see incredulity struggling with anger.  
Maxson took a deep breath. "Paladin Danse. I'm charging you with bringing in this traitor. Alive."  
"Alive?" Diane repeated. "How-" But Danse verbally barreled over her, brows lowered. "Understood." Danse wore the same look as Maxson a moment ago but now it was gone, replaced with a well practiced mask.  
To Diane Maxson said "We cannot allow our soldiers to act with impunity. We will conduct a thorough investigation. " Diane wished she'd acquired such levelheadedness early on. She expected, well, maybe a hot word or two, she wasn't sure. A small wave of relief washed over her. "I'm only taking this action because I trust Danse and his evaluation of you. With that in mind, you came highly recommended. If you truly wish to make a difference in the Commonwealth, continue serving the Brotherhood."  
To serve the Brotherhood and command the Minutemen, Diane knew she would be stretching herself thin. On the other hand, a partnership between the two would be a boon for all parties involved. This symbiotic relationship would present a united front against the Institute, the raiders and any other force that might oppose them. "I will continue my service with the Brotherhood of Steel. "  
Maxson nodded approval."Good. I hereby grant you the title of Knight. Paladin Danse has agreed to continue your mentorship and as your first assignment you will accompany him on his mission to capture the traitor. Take some time to familiarize yourself with the Prydwen and my staff, resupply yourself and retrieve your suit of power armor."  
At the mention of power armor Diane felt a swell of excitement. She had a power armor suit already, a rusted tin can ravaged by sitting in the elements for centuries. It sat neglected in the Castle now for she only used it in the most dire need.  
"We'll bring this killer to justice." She said. Maxson said nothing, only brought his right fist to his heart in salute and with a nod turned back to the window.  
As she climbed down the ladder to the lower decks Diane muttered "Thank the crawling chaos that's over with." _Only the Minutemen won't like this. Especially Preston._ Though Knight McKagan did have a nice ring to it.  
She heard the distinct hydraulic thud of power armor. "I told you he was reasonable." Danse matched her pace. She couldn't tell if he was following her or his path happened to be the same as her own. "I'm glad you're staying with us."  
Diane sighed. "I've got people on it, too. The more, the better. It's dangerous out there especially for a lone teenage girl. We're playing with fire here. If the citizens are so scared of the Brotherhood they'll want me to do something about it. I can't very well set a bunch of angry settlers after one of your guys."  
Stepping aside Danse allowed Diane room to pass."I had a feeling when the Elder said 'we' he was including you."  
"I do have a small request, Paladin. I want to meet the Isaacsons as a Minuteman. Keep their faith and start building it with the Brotherhood. "  
"We can start picking up the pieces and clear up this misunderstanding. Agreed."  
Diane hummed absently in reply. Her true thoughts however she kept concealed. _Misunderstanding, Danse, it was cold blooded murder_ she thought bitterly. Stairs, fucking stairs. Diane had never climbed this many stairs in her entire life. True though she'd spent the last two centuries frozen in an underground vault. She hadn't missed much except for the chance to raise her son. Though often, usually at night when everything was quiet enough that everything that could be driven to the recesses of her mind like bats into their cavern by the light of morning, she thought of that fateful day. The sirens, the mad rush to the vault, seeing the mushroom cloud on the horizon and the buildings and trees flattened by the blast wave just as the elevator started beneath their feet. She'd been too stunned to even speak. Nate was talking to her, soothing Shaun in his arms. All she could think about was her family in Texas, had they made it to a shelter, what was to become of all of them now and oh god, the people dying outside.  
Worse was that day -or was it a night, don't all terrible things happen at night?- when she'd been awakened not like a fairy tale princess by true love's kiss or by her true love's gentle admonition that she'd be late for work if she didn't get up now. She tried to beat her hands bloody on the frosty glass but she was so weak. She couldn't kick open the door or even scream. She could only watch the technician snatch her baby and the fiend shoot her husband. Nate. Poor Nate.  
She couldn't think of him now. Her own sorrow could perhaps be mitigated by this delivery of justice. The killer was still at large, perhaps even hiding. There was precious little time to waste. At Danse's suggestion Diane changed into a uniform, a jumpsuit that would allow for more comfort and mobility when inside power armor. Her Minutemen uniform went into a container that had been granted for her personal use. As she placed it within the container she mused at the symbolic gesture- she was placing the Minutemen, perhaps the entire Commonwealth into the Brotherhood of Steel's care. With any luck this olive branch would become a true partnership. Giving the frock coat one last look she closed the container.  
"How are you holding up, McKagan?" Danse asked as Diane clumsily followed in his wake in her new armor.  
"This is...new." She replied. "Better than that rinky dink t45 I found."  
Danse's voice was filtered through his helmet but his tone was still kind."You'll get used to it. You'll find no better protection."  
Rustling inside her suit made Danse turned to her, voice full of concern. "What's wrong?"  
"It's just...I'm so itchy!"


	4. Killing Is My Business...and Business Is Good

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A proper introduction to the original characters. Hunter Kirkland belongs to my buddy Urik. Using him with permission.

The sounds of several gunshots echoed through the ruined streets of Boston. A Raider gang was entrenched in the skeleton of a general store and they were putting up a vicious fight. Problem was that they couldn’t see who or what had taken down several of their comrades. The bodies each had a hole right between their eyes signifying that the assailant was an expert marksman. A sharp crack split the air again and another Raider went down with a loud thump, a puddle of blood spreading from beneath her.   
Fifty feet away in the ruins of a high rise crouched a lone male, steely gray eyes squinting through the sight of a sleek looking sniper rifle. A smile curled his lips as he sighted and shot again for this was what Hunter loved best; killing Raiders.   
“ONLY A FUCKIN’ COWARD HIDES!” screamed the Raider leader, a man by the name of Porkchop. Hunter rolled his eyes and sighted Porkchop as the latter shouted from behind a barrier.  
But for the monotone bawls of the dying brahmin all was silent. From her shelter under the tatters of a broken storage shed Daniella could hear the gunfire. Maybe the raiders had a dispute over the division of the spoils and had resorted to violence. Kicking her way free she dragged herself out from under the rubble and went to assess the damage. The thieves had taken most of it- her armor and ammo she'd hoped to sell and the more valuable scrap. Even those jet heads knew the value of adhesive and copper. In their frenzy they'd still left the food nearly untouched but for a few boxes of Sugar Bombs ripped and torn, scattered. Another gunshot rang out. As she took inventory she hoped a Brotherhood of Steel patrol had come by and being high on chems and their latest conquest the idiots would try their luck with them. The brahmin lowed pitifully and Daniella wondered if she should put the poor beast down. Then again the sound might bring their attention. Should she salvage what was left and try to make it to the next settlement? She'd lingered there too long already.  
Another sharp crack had sounded as the girl began to scavenge. Porkchop had risen from behind his barrier and had crept up on the unsuspecting girl, preparing to knife her in the back when his forehead opened, spraying blood and brain matter against the nearby wall. Porkchop’s body hit the floor and finally there was silence. Hunter then brought the girl into his sights as he delicately fingered the trigger. One shot and she wouldn’t even have known she was dead. He began to squeeze the trigger but hesitated. Why should she have to die for simply scavenging? He took his finger off the trigger but kept her in his sights. The shot made Danni cry out and crouch down, clutching her head. Of course her fingers did not create a protective cage for her cranium but perhaps the sniper would see that she was not with the raiders. Her mind raced- should she make a dash for the shelter again and hope the sniper's trigger finger was not faster, lay down her gun and make a gesture of yielding. Seconds ticked by and perhaps her indecision would cost her. Sweat beaded her forehead. She was still alive however and suddenly her blood was hot with rage. Turning she kicked Porkchop's stiffening corpse repeatedly, grunting with the effort all the while cursing her rotten luck. Hunter watched her kick the Raider corpse, his lips curling in a smirk. Dropping your guard in the Wastes was a surefire way to end up dead. “You’re welcome,” he murmured. He stood up and pulled a flare from his bag and ignited it, waving it about his head, trying to get her attention.  
Worn out from her corpse kicking Danni sighed, turning around. Someone was waving a flare. Raiders weren't stupid enough to lay a trap this clever. If she was going to die from her own stupidity, well, at least she tried. Picking her way across the ruins she nearly tripped over a corpse, then another and another. "Er...hello...?"  
Hunter had sat down on the window, legs dangling over the drop, his rifle over his shoulder. The flare had sputtered out behind him as she approached. “You almost got a knife in your back, lady. Oughta be more careful around Raiders,” said Hunter, grinning at her from his window. “Come on up, never know when another Raider gang’ll be around.” He stood up and stepped away from the window. The high rise was a standard high rise. Funky technology that no longer worked, plenty of junk, collapsed stairs and dead elevators, and heaps of skeletons. Hunter was on the fifth floor and it was there that he waited for her, sitting against a corner, a pistol in one hand and a cigarette in the other. He had to be careful around any and all Wastelanders.   
Danni needed no more encouragement. Racing up the ruined stairs she dropped to her knees, gasping for breath. "Thanks...for the...save." Raising light grey eyes to peer at him from behind messy copper hair she wiped her forehead with a corner of the flannel scarf around her neck before tucking it back under the cream, burgundy and navy poncho that covered her from neck to ankles. "That's the last time I try to haggle with mercs. They refused even after I offered to pay them double once my stash was sold and now it's all gone!" She sighed. "But...you saved my ass. You can help yourself to what's left. Food, scrap, whatever."  
Hunter watched her calmly. After another half-second of silence, he thumbed back the hammer on his pistol and set it by his side. The message was clear: Try anything and you’re dead. “I’m good on food for a bit. Ammo on the other hand I’m running a little low on. If you see any .308s lying around I’ll take ‘em. Name’s Hunter. What’s a shitty place like you doing in a pretty girl like this?” He smirked a crooked little smirk as he took a drag on his cigarette, exhaling slowly. Danni did have that gun concealed in the folds of her poncho but she'd have to be a real moron to make any threatening gesture toward him.   
"Ammo, eh? Well our friends only took some armor and some of the ammo. And of course..." She added with a wink "we can always play my favorite game - Finders Keepers." Turning she jerked her chin toward the corpses. His last comment made her lips twitch and she chuckled, rising. "Daniella Prower. Folks call me Danni. Well I was a trader up until now. My pack brahmin is dead and I'm low on caps. I'm about this close to saying 'fuck it I'm gonna be a stripper.'"  
Hunter nodded his thanks. “Much obliged. Sorry about your Brahmin. Mind you, traders usually hire out some guards when they’re making their runs. Either you never bothered, couldn’t afford it, or they all got killed. Either way, collecting shit from Raiders is a great place to get some caps. Old Myrna in Diamond City’ll buy from you. ‘Course you could poke around Goodneighbor too. Hancock might be a crazy motherfucker but he’ll deal fairly.” He held up a hand as they heard a roar from down below. He put his finger to his mouth and peered out of the window. “Damn it all..” below was a pack of juvenile Deathclaws with the momma only a few yards away. The nice thing about Deathclaws was that they only ate flesh and ignored the rest. “Well looks like we’re stuck up here for awhile until these pricks clear off. Might as well get comfy, Danni.” He found that he liked the way her name sounded when he said it. “Long as we stay up high and make very little noise, they won’t find us. They could smell us but that dead Brahmin down there smells a lot better than we do.”  
Danni squatted down and pressed her back against the wall, curling her fingers under her chin. "Poor Pooky. Was a good brahmin. I tried to hire some extra guns but I was too short on caps." Pausing she scratched her head. "Hey, can I bum a smoke? Mm. My plan was Diamond City to sell the armor to Arturo then Goodneighbor. Booze tastes better with music-" Silencing herself at his gesture she crept toward the window, whispering fiercely "Oh no- nooooo not Pooky....nooooo...no...awww..."  
Hunter pulled her back from the window, so hard that she more or less landed in his lap, and clapped a hand over her mouth. “You really do have a death wish, don’t you? They can hear you if you do that and the moment they do they’ll try and find you. If they see your pretty face peering from a window, they won’t hesitate to rearrange it for you.” He let her go and gently pushed her off of his lap, handing her two cigarettes and lending her a box of matches. “Jesus Danni. Don’t scare me like that, would you?”  
Danni's eyes flared wide as she found herself landing in the man's lap with a grunt. She froze and when he moved his hand "Never saw a deathclaw up close before. I'd rather not." Rising she took the smokes and matches from him, taking one match and fumbling at the striker. Lighting a cigarette she took a long drag, finally calming down. Leaning against an old dresser she smoked in silence for a while. "What are you doing out here, anyway?"  
Hunter watched her for a moment. Never seen a Deathclaw? If he was being honest with himself, he rarely saw Deathclaws in the city. They usually stayed out in the more sparsely decorated regions of the Wastes. “Doing what I do best; hunt Raiders.” He grinned at her. “They’re a damn nuisance. If you’re lucky, they’ll just kill you. I’ve seen what they do to the unlucky ones.” He shuddered. “Depraved sickos. So what I do is I kill any Raider I can find. Sometimes I’ll pick up bounties for Raider gangs and then do what I do. I don’t really collect on the bounties all that much but I always make sure to send proof back. Raider heads are the most definite proof out in the Wastes.” He took a final drag on his cigarette and flung it out the window.  
"That sounds like grim work. " Pushing up a lock of red hair she flicked her ashes idly. "Yeah this ex Minutemen gal I used to trade with? Some raiders caught her up near Lexington. She lived but...she wasn't the same. " Danni shook her head sadly. "It's obvious we need people like you. " She also took one final drag, tucking the extra behind her ear and tossing down the butt and extinguishing it beneath her boot letting the smoke billow from her nostrils. "No caps for raider cleanups? Either you're some kind of saint or you collect in other ways. Every man has a price. If it's not caps it's chems, if it's not chems it's ass. " Folding her arms under her poncho she leaned over incredulously "So tell me, Hunter. What's your price? Nothing's free in the Wasteland."  
Hunter sighed. He too had seen the survivors that had somehow escaped from Raider encampments. The sickest thing of all was that they often went after children. “I usually sell the arms and armor. Well..I’d do it with this lot but..” he gestured out of the window where the Deathclaws were noisily feasting. “Not sure what state the armor’ll be in after all that. And I don’t do hookers. I’d rather walk into the Glowing Sea ass naked and cock first than do that.” He laughed. “It’s a good feeling knowing I’m making the Wastelands a little safer.” He watched her as she leaned closer, his hand resting unconsciously on his pistol. She was quite gorgeous and seemed friendly enough, but he was suspicious by nature, for very good reasons. After a moment he realized he was touching his gun and pulled his hand back. “‘Course I wouldn’t mind you sticking around a bit til I can get back to Diamond City.”  
Danni blew her hair out of her eyes from the corner of her mouth. "Crap. I didn't grab any food before I got up here. Hopefully the buffet downstairs will close soon." Her features twisted in a grimace as she pictured the monsters devouring the raiders. She snorted and grinned at his comment, showing white teeth that were only a little worn. Overall she seemed to at least try to keep clean. Her porcelain skin was pink from exertion, covered with freckles but wasn't coated in a layer of grime like most, just a few smudges here and there. Raising a hand from beneath her poncho she pointed at him. "Tell you what- you grab what you can, help me haul some stuff back to Diamond City and I'll split what I make with you fifty-fifty. I owe you big time."


	5. Chit Chat

Hunter saw no way of refusing her offer without being rude. He sighed internally and crawled over to his bag, pulling out a few boxes of InstaMash and two Nuka-Colas. He handed one of each to her. “Fine fine. I don’t like the idea of taking your caps but I guess I don’t have a choice, do I?” He smirked at her and dug into his InstaMash, looking up at her every now and again. As they ate, the sounds of flesh tearing and snarling died out. Heavy footsteps told him that the pack of Deathclaws were moving away. He chanced a glance out of window and let out a sigh. There wasn’t much left in the of armor and even less left of the bodies. “Well...could have been worse,” he muttered. Danni's face brightened at the sight of food..especially the cola. Pulling up her poncho, showing old army pants and a grey button up shirt she undid her belt which appeared to be fashioned from an old car seatbelt and with it opened the cola. Resting the cap on her thumb she flipped it in the air, caught it in her palm and pocketed it. Taking a long satisfying drink from the soda she sighed and setting it aside pulled the top off the InstaMash . With a few splashes of water and a lot of shaking she pulled a fork from a pocket and sat on the floor to devour her food. "So...where you from?"  
Hunter smiled to himself as she ate. He wasn’t entirely sure why, but the little facial expressions she made were super cute. He too ate, relishing the taste of two-hundred year old food. “Oh nowhere special. Little settlement near Goodneighbor. Doesn’t exist anymore. Everyone either moved on to less irradiated pastures or were killed when Raiders used to knock us over. Family was killed in the attack so I had to go it alone. You?” He took a deep draught of cola and burped loudly. Classy wasteland hunter he was.  
"I was born in D.C. but we moved around a lot when I was little. " Danni said. "Came out here about...three years ago. Tired of living in the sticks so I took up with a caravan. Been up and down the coast and back again. Thought things would be just peachy but then the Brotherhood flies in on their floating dildo. " She too savored the delicious irradiated food and took a drink, giving a belch of her own. Hunter inhaled half of his soda up his nose as he began to laugh at Danni’s description of the Prydwen. He had to admit it had the general shape of one.  
“Sorry,” he wheezed, still chortling. “Accurate description I think. I don’t like this Brotherhood of Steel. It’s so different than the stories I heard as a kid. Guy in our village came from D.C. and he told us the coolest stories about the Brotherhood of Steel fighting off the Enclave. These new guys are destroying everything that Elder Lyons built.”  
Danni laughed too as freely as she dared. The raiders might have vengeful friends about or some deathclaw might want some warm flesh for seconds. "They act like hot shit but don't wanna trade. They want 'donations'. Geez, go whack a mole rat or something. I'm not a charitable institution." Stirring her mashed potatoes she asked "So what is the story with this Maxson guy? Sounds like top brass."  
Hunter shook his head. “He’s a hypocrite. Humanity is worth saving but ONLY humanity. Super Mutants, Ghouls, Synths, everyone else can go to hell. He talks a big talk, but he’s a goddamn hypocrite.” Hunter suddenly let out a gasp of pain and clutched at his head. He curled up in a ball and winced in pain. “Don’t worry..” he said through clenched teeth. “Side effect of rad poisoning. Comes and goes..” he waved his hand feebly.

"Well..." Danni paused thoughtfully "I'd agree with two out of three. Ghouls go feral after all...but so do humans. Synths are just creepy. I mean, I'd date a ghoul if he was really nice.-" she nearly dropped her fork at his sudden reaction and started up on her feet. "Oh my god...!" when he reassured her she sat back down. "Should get that looked at. I try to keep my rads at minimum. "Hunter let out a little laugh.  
“Yeah Synths are a bit creepy, I’ll give you that.” He waited until the pain subsided before sitting back up. “I see Doctor Sun in Diamond City if the pain is real bad. Sadly RadAway can’t help. This is long term rad exposure so it’s bound to do funny things to you. Bah.” He chugged the rest of his soda. “Well I think it’s safe enough to look through the buffet down below and then get out of dodge. Lemme just pack my things up.” He stood up and packed his things into his heavy travel back which he slung over his shoulder. He left his garbage behind. “Shall we?”  
Finishing her meal Danni picked up her 10mm, Shenanigans. She hung the piece under her poncho somehow and dusted herself off. "Rad away can't help?" She hummed absently at this but didn't trouble herself with it further. "Yup. Let's git."  
  
They went down the stairs and out of the high rise, walking in silence to where the gory pile of bodies lay. “Yeah...this armor is a lost cause. Sure, they don’t eat armor, but they don’t really care how it comes off as long as they get the meat beneath it. Ugh.” He searched through the remains, putting aside guns and clips of ammo. He found a generous supply of Stimpaks as well as a few tubes of Psycho. “I don’t touch the stuff myself but people pay through the nose for it so. Waste not want not.”  
Cautiously Danni knelt beside a raider and peeled back the gnawed armor. "Blech. Yup. Not gonna get a single cap off this mess." What pockets were left, Danni rifled meticulously through them humming idly. Ammo, caps, the occasional sweet, stimpaks, chems. "A decent haul but it's a far cry from being enough to mitigate my losses." She cast a painful gaze to Pooky, her late pack brahmin "Can at least grab a duffel bag to put this in." After a moment of digging she scrounged up a pair of duffel bags, and three smaller packs. "Guess now we're pack animals. "  
Hunter was shoving everything he looted into his massive rucksack. He grunted and slung it over his shoulder. “I can hoof this out a ways but I will probably need to lighten my load. Diamond City isn’t that far from here, thankfully. If I find myself making longer trips I’ll stash my shit somewhere I’d think to look for. If we need to, we’ll make a short-term deposit.” He winked at her and set off, gesturing her to follow him. Danni looked oddly lumpy with her excess bags. Once secure she had her gun in hand.  
"I usually have a pack animal or two. Sometimes stuff gets dropped and I don't notice and it's just like 'oh well, maybe it will help whoever finds it'. She stayed not but three paces from his side, wary of anyone or anything following them. "You know, I was thinking about joining up with the Minutemen."  
Hunter trudged along, keeping his eyes peeled for any potential hostiles. “If we drop shit, oh well. We got enough to get you back on your feet. Couple drinks on me at the Dugout. Vadim Bobrov makes a mean moonshine.” He smirked at her. “Minutemen are a good group from what I’ve heard. Person like you’d be great for the Commonwealth. How do they feel about the Institute?”  
Fumbling behind her ear Danni made certain her spare cigarette was still there. "Sounds great. Yeah I haven't been to Diamond City in a while." She snorted. "Had one shot of that stuff and ended up dancing on the bar. Vadim put me in my room before I embarrassed myself further. I think he copped a feel but it was an accident. Probably." Her cheeks colored a bit at the memory. "Yeah, bunch of militia. 'Protect the people at a moment's notice.' I'm in it for the caps. If I could have a safe route with them at my back I'd blast a few raiders in return, sure." Danni chewed her lip trying to keep an eye where she was walking. Any crack in the road would mean she'd eat asphalt for certain. "I think on the whole they're indifferent. Some might hate the Institute, I mean they replace people with synths, it's sick. "  
Hunter smirked at the mental picture of Danni going wild in the Diamond City bar. “Damn you must have been feelin’ real good.” He laughed, seeing her blush. Wow, that’s really cute, he thought to himself. “Don’t see the point in helping people only for money, but that’s just me. I help because..well. It makes me feel good.” That was the most confusing thing. He didn’t know why it felt good, but knowing that his actions helped the people of the Commonwealth filled him happiness and made him eager to continue with his mission. “Yeah I can’t figure out why the Institute does what it does. I don’t see the point in switching out people with Synths but...that’s just me. Synths aren’t all bad though. You know Detective Valentine? Man’s a Synth. Really swell guy.”  
Danni took a deep breath. "If you went through what I've gone through you'd never want to be without caps again. Yeah. But you can't help people if you starve or run out of ammo. " She set her mouth oddly at the mention of the detective. "I heard of him. Never met him, never needed a detective thankfully. I'm told he's -very- good at what he does. But not only that, he's a good man. Not in it for the money or anything, just...wants to help."  
Hunter reached out and gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder. “I’m sorry you went through shit because you were out of caps. Important thing is you survived and found a way to keep surviving. Hard thing to do these days. Often wonder if life was any different before the War. In some ways, it’s obvious but..wonder if people were the same as they are now.”  
She gave him a small smile. "I do okay now. Past is the past. Dunno what life was like before all this. I suppose you could ask a ghoul but that might just make them sad. You ever find like, a pretty house and wonder what it looked like before the bombs fell? Anything really, try to piece it back together in your mind?"  
Hunter smiled at her. “Good I’m glad. And yeah, sometimes I find these really nice townhouses. Always good to pick through. Sad part is that you’ll sometimes see skeletons just sitting on the couch or standing in the kitchen. Well, lying in the kitchen. Worst part is some of those skeletons were once children. I mean..did they not know what was coming? Did they accept the inevitability of their doom? Were they unable to make it to a Vault? So many questions and I’ll never have the answers.”  
"Sometimes I'm scavving and find skeletons, yeah..." Danni nodded sadly. "I always want to bury them or leave some token of remembrance. Though honest truth? I find their holotapes and I listen to them. It's kind of spooky at first but...this is all that's left of them. I feel like...keeping them I'm not lugging around a holotape I'm holding onto a memory. I know it's...sappy."  
They had entered the immediate vicinity of Diamond City. Hunter went up to the callbox and spoke with the guard on the other side. The gate slowly began to rise with a great grinding of rusty metal gears. “Damn good to be home again,” said Hunter, smiling slightly. He led her up the stairs and into the city proper. “Whole thing used to be a baseball stadium back in the old days.” He led her to the merchants. It was evening now so Myrna was asleep but her Mr. Handy was managing the store. “So here’s the surplus store. Sell what you want. I’m gonna go to my house and I’ll see you in a bit. If you wanna stop by it’s right up there.” He pointed some distance away at the far end of the city near the water station. Danni sagged under her load. All her chatting had made her forgot how heavy this shit was. With a small wave to the guards she trudged into Diamond City to unburden herself. "I wonder what baseball was like? All these chairs, must have been popular." 

Several minutes later Danni was a few hundred caps richer. Not as much as she'd hoped for, plus she had to resupply for the next leg of her trip. Well, maybe she could relax in Diamond City a while. The scent of noodles wafted to her nostrils. She was always hungry, but who wasn't? But Hunter still needed to be paid. Right! She thought and headed for his house, humming absently.  
Hunter was currently putting things away in their proper place; ammo went in its respective case, food and drink went in a refrigerator, and random junk He set aside to be melted down into scrap later. He turned to look at the head sitting on his desk. It was an old rusted out Gen 1 Synth Head, currently connected to a terminal. He had found the critically damaged Synth one day attempting to contact the Institute, but it wasn’t smart enough to realize its communications node was damaged beyond repair, so Hunter had put it out of its misery and salvaged the head. He had been surfing through lines of code trying to break the security encryption hardwired into every Synth. It was an extraordinarily difficult code to crack, but little by little, he was getting closer to breaking it. Smoothing her hair, tugging her poncho back into place Danni picked her teeth before knocking on the door. "Hunter? I'm back! It's big bad Danni . Muahaha."  
Hunter got up and went over to the door and opened it, letting her in. “Hi you. Come on come in.” He stepped back to allow her in. His house was a metal shack with hardly any decorations. There were a few Nuka-Cola posters on the walls but precious little else. There were rifles and heavy weaponry hanging from hooks on the walls. There were even Synth weapons as well including their sharp claws which they used as offensive weaponry. “Make yourself comfy.” He shoved a stack of old comics off a comfortably chair that looked as though it hadn’t survived a nuclear apocalypse.  
Hands behind her back Danni entered the shack, glancing about "Nice place. Oooh wow...!" Crossing the room she examined the synth head. Reaching out she poked it with a single finger. "God synths are creepy." Here she put on a monotone "I SENSE HOSTILE LIFE FORMS. " then in a normal voice "Where'd you get this?"  
He watched her as she explored his house and chuckled when she imitated a Synth detecting an enemy. “I found him damaged. I think he had an unfortunate encounter with a very grumpy Deathclaw. He was lying in pieces and attempting to call for help, but his communications node was shot so all he could do was twitch and glitch. I put him out of his misery and took his head for research purposes. I wanna know why they do what they do but the security safeguards the Institute puts in place are extremely hard to crack. Once I crack it, and I will crack it, I’ll be able to learn all about Synths and the way they think. Well...Gen 1s don’t really think. Gen 2s are sort of there, but Gen 3s are full AI. Then there are the Coursers. They are extremely dangerous. If you get the chance to kill one, do it. I can guarantee you that if you hesitate at all, they’ll kill you much quicker.”

As he spoke Danni picked up the synth head gingerly turning it over in her hands. She knew exactly fuck all about robotics, interspersing a few 'uh huhs' as he explained then set the head down. "I don't know- are you sure tampering with this thing is a good idea?" Turning she sat down in the offered chair, in a rather unladylike fashion. "The Institute might come looking for you- they'll find you before you find them. What do you expect to learn from it, anyway?"  
Hunter laughed. “Oh it’s an absolutely terrible idea. The Institute is known to retrieve their damaged tech whenever they can. They might come after me, yeah. Hopefully they don’t. They’ll try to make me work for them and that’s one group I’d rather launch a mini nuke up my ass than work for.” He sat back down behind his desk and examined the Synth head. “Could learn how they build their Synths, their weaknesses, their command codes. Each Synth has a set of command codes hardwired into its neural matrix that can enables the Institute to give it commands. If I can learn those codes, it might make fighting Synths a thousand times easier.”  
"Riiiiight. Well, here's payment as promised. Two hundred and fifty caps, straight up." Retrieving a bundle from under her poncho she set it onto his work table, then leaned over him with a hand on her hip. "Don't you like to live dangerously? You learn all that you could stand to make a lot more caps with that specialized knowledge of synths...if the Institute doesn't get you first. Hell, if I were you I'd find safer digs and soon."  
Hunter smirked at her. “Sorry cutie but the deals changed. Cost just went up.” He put his hand on the bag of caps and pushed it back towards her. “You keep the caps but hang around awhile. I like you. Sound fair enough?” He pushed back a bit on his desk chair and propped his boots up on this desk. “ This house is safe enough. I’ve got EMP traps set up in hidden places around the house, plus a few...other accouterments.”  
Danni's face went red with indignation. "Went up? Geez, the price on your head just went up. Now you're a liability! I don't want a fuckin' laser up my ass." She drummed her fingers on the table. "You think Hancock wants an Institute target in his town?" Snatching up the caps she headed for the door. "I need a fucking drink..."  
Hunter rolled his eyes. “Institute hasn’t managed to catch me yet but whatever.” He stood up and rotated his neck from side to side. He stuck a pistol down his waistband and covered it with his shirt. “Let me at least walk you to the Dugout.”  
She was already out the door with a dismissive wave. "Yet." Striking a match Danni lit a cigarette, taking a drag. Her light grey eyes rolled skyward. "Looks like rain."  
Hunter looked up. “Sure does. Rad storms are beautiful I gotta say. Sure it’s dangerous but. I dunno. Something beautiful about green skies and green lightning.” He set off down the gangway leading down into the city center. He nodded and waved to a few residents, many of them scowling in response. He led the way to the Dugout and pushed open the door and grinned. “Home away from home.”


	6. In Moonshine, Truth

Disposing of her cigarette Danni tied her hair up at the back of her head as she idly watched the passersby giving her companion the stink eye. She shrugged it off and entered the Dugout Inn. "Why are you so popular with the locals?" Danni smirked at Hunter then to Vadim she raised a hand in greeting. "Yo Vadim! It's payday and I'm thirsty!"  
Hunter snickered. “I just have that effect on people.” Vadim Bobrov, the owner and operator of the Dugout, raised a hand in greeting. “DANIELLA! My favorite customer! Please please sit! Do you want your usual?” He yelled something in Russian to his brother Yefim. “Yefim will be right with you whenever the lazy bastard is done doing whatever he is doing. And you, my friend?” He looked at Hunter. “Some of your famous Moonshine, Vadim. Can’t get enough of it.” Vadim laughed. “That is secret ingredient, my friend! Nobody can get enough of it!” The Russian roared with laughter while his brother Yefim hurried behind the bar and prepared to make the drinks.  
Danni tried unsuccessfully to hide her face in the folds of her poncho. Hopefully Vadim would be gracious enough to not give the details of her last, er, performance. "Well I came all this way- moonshine for me, too!" Depositing herself on the couch with a plop her thoughts were interrupted by a growl of "You dumb bitch!" Throwing a quick look to the bar, then to the speaker she saw a man rise with a fresh wet spot on his trousers.  
"Shit!" Danni exclaimed "I'm sorry, let me just-" The guy was huge, a bandoleer across his chest and a pauldron fashioned from a deathclaw skull rested on his shoulder. His eyes widened in recognition.  
"You- you're the little shit who sold me those rubber bullets!" Danni raised her hands in protest "No refunds? B-but I see you're in one piece how about I-" But his fingers gripped the front of her poncho.  
"How about I break both your legs and leave you bare ass naked in raider territory? I think that'd be good compensation." Danni squirmed out of his grasp and stood up/ "N-n-no, I-I think I'll just get m-my-...drink...to...go?" Hunter was idly sipping at his moonshine, enjoying the taste of it when the commotion started. He watched as the large man approached Danni and threatened her. He frowned. Crippled and naked in Raider territory? The merc let out a growl of pain and drew back a fist. Then he let out an even louder yell of pain and sank to a knee. Hunter had drawn up behind him and struck him hard behind the knee with a metal bar stool. He then wrapped one arm around his neck and put the other behind his head. The merc tried to struggle but Hunter held on.   
“Alternatively, you leave here now and never threaten her again or I break your neck just enough so that you lose all feeling in your extremities and then I’ll leave you in a Deathclaw nest. I really don’t give a fuck what your beef with her is. What’s it gonna be, big guy?"  
Danni threw her arms up in an attempt to protect her face- not like it was the first time she'd been threatened by an angry customer. She just hoped the damage wouldn't be too bad. But the swing never came and she dropped her arms to see the big guy kneeling. The other patrons scrambled to the far corners and Danni herself stepped back until she encountered the old diner machine. "You're a real piece of work, Scourge. Messin' with a lady, now look at ya. "  
Scourge spat out a tooth. "Y'can both go fuck yourselves...!"  
Danni flapped her hands dismissively "Oh let 'im go, Hunty. He kills deathclaws for sport, probably with his enormous balls carved of granite."  
This got a chuckle from the merc.  
Hunter raised an eyebrow. “Right.” He released the merc and stepped back a little. He was confused at what just happened but apparently the two were friends. He was relieved he wouldn’t have to carry out his promise but.. even still. “Well..alright then.” He said, shrugging at Danni.  
Scourge started to his feet. "Alright, alright. I don't want any more trouble. " Danni folded her arms. "I don't sell rubber anything. One of your guys must have been trying to sabotage you."  
"Well I feel like an absolute ass. How's about I find a dress my size and serenade Hancock at his balcony? Would that cheer you up?"  
"You should break the legs of the skidmark who claimed I sell shoddy merchandise."  
"How about both?"  
"Deal!"  
They shook on it. Scourge's massive brown paw engulfed Danni's tiny white hand. Hunter watched the byplay between the two, smirking slightly. Big merc in a dress would have been something to see. Hunter relaxed completely now that there was no longer any immediate threat.   
“Goodneighbor’s more my kinda city anyway. A kind of beautiful chaos.” He nodded and picked up the barstool. “Sorry about that,” he said, replacing the stool at the bar.Jerking a thumb at Hunter Scourge asked "Who's this stone cold fucker?"  
Danni sauntered to the bar to retrieve her moonshine, picking up the shotglass with finger and thumb. "That's Hunter. He saved my sweet ass down the road a piece. Now let's all be good and have a drink, yeah?" Lifting her glass she cried "Cheers!" And downed the drink, her face contorting. "Tastes like copper and bad decisions."  
Hunter lifted his bottle at Scourge. “Pleasure. Hunter’s my name and hunting Raiders is my game.” He took a deep swig from the bottle and shuddered slightly. Icy burn. “That’s the best kind of taste, Danni.” He smirked at her.  
"Irwin Danes, unfortunately. Folks call me Scourge. You give those raiders hell! Well I've gotta hit the hay. Long walk tomorrow. You two don't have too much fun, alright?" Scourge clapped Danni and Hunter on the back with those giant ham hands of his. Danni choked on her drink. "Yeah, g'night." then to herself "Asshole." and downed a third shot. Hunter lurched forward a little, grunting. Even to him, Scourge’s slap on the back was forceful. “Heh..l like him.” Even though he would have most certainly broken the man’s neck, there was something about him Hunter liked. He watched Danni as she took a third shot. Might have to carry her home if she drinks too much, thought Hunter, taking a large swig of Bobrov’s Best.  
"Oh poor Pooky! My loyal brahmin!" Danni wailed. The moonshine was taking effect in full force. "Yeah Scourge is a hardass merc but he's got caps out the wazoo. Dunno why'ees got...a fuckin'....stick up his ass today. Guess his boyfriend dumped him or somethin'..." she sniffed and lay her head on the counter, making faces at Hunter.  
Hunter smiled. “Alright you. That’s enough.” He stood up and paid Vadim for the drinks. He then took one of Danni’s arms and put it around his shoulder and lifted her up. “Let’s get you back home.”  
Danni was all giggles- what a lightweight. Then again the stuff could scrub the skin off a synth. Rising with his aid she waved goodbye to Vadim. "Guess jus-...jus' rent me a room...?"  
Hunter shook his head. “Absolutely not. I don’t trust most of these fucks so I’d rather you be where I can keep an eye on you. That way I can toss you outside if you start puking.” He helped her all the way to his house and in, leading her to a sparsely decorated bedroom. He gently deposited her into his bed, fluffing up an old pillow to put under her head. “Just sleep it off, Danni. You’ll be feeling lousy the next morning but it’ll be good for you.” He went into his kitchen and got a water bottle to give to her. “Here,” he said, putting on the bedside table. “Drink a little at a time.”  
"N' why should I trust you? How do I know....soon as I knock out you don't m-...you don't eh...you don't...do stuff to me? Hm?" Danni still submitted meekly to being cared for. Sitting up she removed her poncho and unbuttoned her grey shirt. Not completely-just to get comfy...but from the right angle there was a tiny bit of side boob. Kicking off her boots she sipped the water. "Phew. You always so motherly?"  
Hunter smiled at her. “I may be an asshole but I’d like to think I’m an honest one.” He readjusted his blankets to preserve her modesty. “Besides,” he grinned, “I’d rather you be sober before I do anything. And when someone can’t look after themselves, I tend to get a little protective. Just how I am. Now rest, okay? You’ll be safe here.” He gently poked her nose.  
She gave him a genuine "Thank you. You're sweet. Any other guy would have tried somethin' by now..." Snuggling under her poncho she lay there in a drunken haze. "Nice t' sleep in a real bed. World needs more people like you." Closing her eyes for a moment she opened one. "Sorry about Scourge again. He's kind of punchy when he's had too many.I wasn't gonna tell you but he's an ex raider. Then he smartened up." She paused thoughtfully, that drunken philosophical air. "D'ya think people really change? I mean, you saw what he did and heard what he said. "  
Hunter smiled again. You’re sweet. he liked that. He really liked that. “I’m not like most guys. As for the world needing more people like me...god that’d be a terrible world.” He laughed in genuine amusement. “Feel free to stay as long as you need. My house is your house.” He frowned a little at the knowledge that Scourge was a former Raider. “Thought he had the look about him. And...yeah. I do believe people can change. Not many people can make that huge leap. He learned how to be a man. Good thing.”  
Danni sniffed but smiled at his offer, then on to drunken pondering"I think...he thought I'd betrayed him like his crew. That's why he lashed out so hard. When I first met him he'd just left his gang, I mean, -just- left them after...well...everyone has standards. He told me this one guy he trusted...he caught him with a girl...you know...raiders take what they want. He shot him, Scourge shot his friend and tried to help the girl escape. But she died anyway. How can people be so sick...?"  
Hunter’s smile faded. “Damn.. that’s terrible. Betrayal leaves a nasty wound behind that can take a long time to heal. World’s a shitty place. I mean look at what happened. I wasn’t around before the War, but obviously it was bad enough that people shot off nukes at everything. What’s left over is the result of all that. World could be a better place if more people like you were around.”  
Danni closed her eyes again. "Well maybe the Minutemen can sort things out. Maybe even the Brotherhood of Steel if they get their heads out of their power armored butts..."  
Hunter smiled. Brotherhood of Steel pulling their heads out of their asses wasn’t likely. Hell, they’d kill him on the spot if they knew what he was. Even the Institute rather destroy Hunter than have him fall into the wrong hands. “Go to sleep, Danni. I’ll be here when you wake up.” He leaned down and gently kissed her forehead.  
Danni beamed, then drifted off to sleep, riding on waves of moonshine and creature comfort.  
Hunter stayed true to his word and deactivated himself whilst in his bedroom. He had set himself on sentry mode for the duration of the night. Anyone that would dare attempt to harm her would have to sneak by him, and that was impossible. He had smiled as she slept, taking a few moments to admire her before deactivating. Was this what human attraction was?


	7. Hangover O'Clock

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A few more short chapters before the ball really gets rolling.

The headache that woke Danni was akin to a brahmin stomping on her head. She was in unfamiliar surroundings and blinking owlishly she rose to discover she had not, in fact, woken up in the domicile of her latest one night stand. It all came back to her- Hunter, the mysterious raider slayer had rather gallantly put her to bed after a night of hard drinking yet she was clothed. She vaguely remembered unbuttoning her shirt not with any mind to seduce him but because having boobs is uncomfortable. Seizing the bottle of water she remembered his admonishment to drink it slowly, even though her throat ached for water. Maybe the trip to Goodneighbor would have to wait.  
Hunter was ‘asleep’ in the corner chair in the room. In reality, he was in sentry mode and power save mode as well. The moment she stirred, his security protocols activated and woke him up. He looked around, listening for any unwelcome sounds, and then realized it was just Danni waking up. “Even when you look like shit, you’re still attractive,” he said, chuckling a bit. He stood up and went to sit on the bed by her side. “Feeling it now, are ya?”  
Danni groaned. "Don't push it. And don't talk so loud." Eyes narrowed to slits, she drank her water. "Did you just watch me all night?"  
He yawned. “Nah. I fell asleep pretty quickly after you knocked out. I just promised you that I’d be here when you woke up. Here I am.” He left the room to get a cup of coffee. “Here,” he said, returning and handing her the steaming mug. “Sip it and it should clear the cobwebs out of your head right quick.” He smirked at her.  
"Well you did make good on your promise." Buttoning her shirt she picked up her poncho folding it neatly. She took the coffee and drank gratefully. He wouldn't want to miss out on caps. Keeping her sweet would be wise. Mid sip she paused at his comment. "You really know how to compliment a lady." Well he was more than likely right. She could feel her ponytail loose in its tie and the rest sticking up like dead grass. She'd have to mend her appearance later.  
Hunter laughed. “I like it.” He stood up and rotated his neck from side to side. “So. You up to make the trip to Goodneighbor or do you want to hang around a bit? Up to you.”  
"I'm being a baby, I know. I just need to clear my head a bit and then we'll head out." Her stomach growled but nausea quieted it. Maybe by the time they reached the king of the zombies' domain her appetite would return.  
He smiled at her. “Right then. You should probably get something in your stomach, even if it’s only a little thing. Some chips ought to help.” He went to get her a small packet of chips and a can of water. “Trust me. You should get food in your system.”  
Dragging herself upright like every movement was agony, Danni slowly nibbled the chips, sipped the water. "Yeah I know. Not the first time I woke up at some strange man's house with a hangover."  
Hunter looked at her. “How many of those strange men tried to get their jollies while you were incapacitated?” he asked, archly. “Don’t like that one bit, honestly. But I’m not judging you. Just not my bit, y’know?"  
"I honestly don't know. Seems like passed out girl is fair game. But most of them, I was consenting." She smiled wanly at him. "Sometimes there are other things that will get you farther than a fistful of caps. Not that I'm proud of it. "  
He reached over and gently squeezed her shoulder. “In this fucked up world, you do what you have to do and then have to learn with your demons. God knows I’m still working on that. You’re a damn good person. Rare these days. You don’t seem to be out for yourself.”  
"Nah, it's better to not seem that way. Taking from others, that's raider thinking. Take what you earned then pay it forward."  
Hunter just looked at her, smiled and continued to look, and then looked away and cleared his throat. “How’s your head?” He bustled around his house, loading things up into his rucksack and avoiding looking at her again to hide his smile from her.  
She peered at him suspiciously "Why, did you molest me or something?" Her tone was joking and she put her hands on her hips in mock anger then smirked. "Phrasing. Heh. Never got any complaints. "  
He looked up at her, grinning. “Nah. If I did that, you wouldn’t be able to walk.” He tipped her an enormous wink before laughing. “Well it looks to me like you’re mobile so. I think we can make that journey to Goodneighbor. Take your pick of weaponry; I got enough for a small militia.”  
At the mention of weaponry Danni hopped up like a child promised a visit to the candy store and an armful of whatever confection she desired. 10 mm were her ammo of choice. A few quips went through her mind to counter his comment which now that she thought of it was a flirtation. He was a bit older than most men she went for or perhaps stress had matured him rapidly. She considered making a remark about his armory being compensation, maybe knocking him down a peg - men were always so sure of their prowess in all things. But Danni loaded her pistol and donned her poncho.  
He pulled the slide of his favorite pistol and stuffed it down the waistband of his trousers. “Jesus, what are you planning on doing? Taking over a settlement?” He chuckled. Satisfied everything was ready to go, he went over to a nearby generator and shut the power down. The yellow eyes in the Synth head went dark as well as every other light in the house.  
"Maybe..." Danni said coyly and braced herself for the sting of daylight. All her remaining goodies gathered she hummed a few notes. "Maybe this time I'll get to meet the mayor. I hear he's one hell of a cool guy. Not your usual ghoul, most of them come in two flavors- bitter assholes or sweethearts you just wanna hug."  
Hunter shielded his eyes as they stepped outside. He took a deep breath and exhaled, a smile on his face. “Don’t know much about the man myself. Never met him before, but I hear enough. He doesn’t take any bullshit from anyone.”  
"Sounds like my kind of guy." There was less pep in her step as her humming implied. The flood of booze still made her feel limp as a rag but she'd gone through worse odds feeling ten times as bad. The promise of caps did perk her up more than the coffee and she stepped beyond the gate with eager anticipation.


	8. Road Trippin'

Hunter laughed to himself as they set off on the long walk to Goodneighbor. They would have to pass through city ruins infested with all sorts of Wasteland wildlife; thankfully there was a definite lack of any Deathclaws for which Hunter was grateful. Danni smoothed her hair and retied it as they walked. She said nothing, alert for the various nasties of the Commonwealth. The wind rattled through the ruins , rustling debris and making the old buildings groan with two centuries of decay. How exciting this city must have been in its prime. Hunter tried be as nonchalant as possible when he looked at her. He knew that most all humans didn’t much like it when other people stared at them. Danni picked her way through the ruins, only pausing a light a cigarette commenting briefly "You're determined, I'll give you that."  
Hunter smirked slightly. “No idea what you’re talking about,” he said, shouldering his pack a little higher. Soon the distant street corner where Goodneighbor was located came into view. “And there it is. Goodneighbor, your home away from home.” He laughed. “Hancock will be welcoming enough so long as you don’t cause trouble. You should probably wait outside though,” he said, grinning wickedly at her.  


Danni grinned. All kinds of mayhem, sex, booze, chems and caps were dispensed and devoured here. Whatever god existed, Danni thanked he/she/it on bended knee for Hancock keeping this place as it was. "Wait outside and wait for the super mutants to get me? I don't think so!" Barging past him she put her hand on the the gate door "Ladies first!"  
Hunter laughed and poked her in the side.  
“Woah woah! Goodneighbor ain’t goin’ anywhere! Geez, Hancock won’t be happy if you tear the gates off!” He followed her inside once the doors were opened. He wondered briefly whether or not he should stop by the Memory Den or not. The last time he had been there was to seek treatment for an injury inflicted by Raiders. He supposed that he should have been grateful to the Raider that took the shot as it disabled the relay node in his cranium. He had been worried that the Institute would forcibly recall him for a memory wipe. He shrugged, smiling to himself.  
Things could have been worse and the fact that Hunter had let the Raider live spoke volumes. It was only through sheer luck that the bullet, a high grade armor piercing round, had missed his CPU by mere inches. Not even the Memory Den or the Railroad would have been able to restore his personality. He most likely would have been turned into a toaster or at least would have been left with the intellectual capacity of one.  
"Miss Daisy!" Danni sang out as she cut a caper across the brick paving toward the ghoul woman's trading post. With any luck she might be able to make enough caps to trade elsewhere perhaps with the settlements under the Minutemen's protection.They need food most of all she knew but fresh food was rather problematic. On the other hand purified water was a valuable commodity and sometimes even the rich people use it to wash.  
She conversed with Daisy and already her head was spinning. She was polite enough for she liked Daisy- the woman was kind and always gave her a fair deal. Danni didn't really like the light banter of the trade business she preferred to get her business over with. Most of her head space was occupied by caps -how to obtain them and what she would be spending them on next. There wasn't really much else to do in this sorry world except make money and spend it. She herself enjoyed the spending part but she know plenty of people who had just as much if not more fun in the earning.Those mercenary types like that MacCready fellow. He was nice but too expensive. She'd even gone out of her way and offered to bed him but he'd grown so annoyed with her she had been asked to leave the Third Rail. Enough time had passed that this ban was lifted. Hopefully.  


Hunter and Danni parted ways once they arrived in Goodneighbor. He had gone to the Memory Den for his annual appointment with Dr. Amari. She was satisfied how well he had adapted to the breach in his cranial chassis. He was currently lying on an examination table as Amari was examining his internal circuitry. His facial plates were open, allowing Amari to run diagnostics on his CPU. “You say you’ve been experiencing pain?”   
Hunter would have nodded but Amari had disabled mobility in his cranial servos.  
“Yeah,” said Hunter’s voice. It sounded like him but with a robotic timbre to it. “It comes on without warning. I told this girl I’m traveling with that it’s a side effect of long term radiation exposure.”  
“You like her.” It wasn’t a question, merely a statement. Hunter didn’t answer right away.  
“...yeah I really do. I really really do. Problem is..I don’t think she’d like me. She has..negative views on Synths and if she knew what kind of Synth I was...” he trailed off. Amari smiled a little sadly.  
“Do you think she likes you because of what you are or because of who you are? I understand why most people don’t like Synths but that’s irrelevant. You’re the most advanced synth I’ve ever seen. ” Hunter would have smiled if his head wasn’t wide open. Soon Amari finished his tuneup, checking on the rebuilt section of his cranium. Hunter thanked Amari and left to go find Danni.  


Danni wandered about Goodneighbor by herself for a time. It was a small place and she circuited it three times before people began to give her odd looks. She'd lingered by the balcony where the mayor made his addresses to the town but he never appeared to her great disappointment. It was on the bench beneath the balcony overlooking the plaza where Hunter found her, lounging easily with a Nuka Cola in one hand and a Grognak the Barbarian comic in the other. Hunter emerged from the Memory Den and smiled when he spotted her, heading over to sit down next to her. “Well?” he asked, looking at her. “How’d everything go? Get a sizable stack of caps?”  
"Oh hey." She smiled at him. "Yup." Sitting up she put her feet on the ground and closing the comic placed it in her lap.  
"Well guess things between us are nice and neat. You gonna return to Diamond City? I might stay here and enjoy the fruits of my labor. Bit of the hair of the dog might suit me. Although..." She paused to make eyes at a passing drifter- the man favored her by slowing his pace and raking her with his eyes, a smirk on his lips. The flirtation might lead to future things. "I don't think I'm up for a horizontal mambo just yet."  
Hunter nodded. “Yup. Got a few more contracts out for Raider gangs that need taking care of. Hopefully I see you around my area sometime.” He smiled at her whilst glowering at the other man who was eyeing her up. _Yeah buddy...you keeping eyeing her up and I’ll gladly perform a transorbital lobotomy on you free of charge,_ he thought acidly.  
"More raiders? Ugh. I dunno how you do it." Lacing her fingers behind her head Danni leaned back "Is Hancock offering a bounty or something? Man, I wish someone paid me every time I got rid of pests."  
Hunter chuckled. “I’m not the only bounty hunter, Danni. You wanna start collecting on bounties? See what the local bounties are for the community. Sometimes it’s Raiders, sometimes it’s Deathclaws. Goodneighbor’s bound to have bounties out. Ask around. Hire some mercs.”  
" Mercs are too expensive. Also handsy, some of them." _Or they won't accept sex as payment when I'm short of caps._ " I'd probably just get myself killed."  
Hunter rolled his eyes. “Shooting straight is kind of a prerequisite in the Wastelands, Danni.” He sighed heavily. “Tell you what. Next time you’re in Diamond City, stop by and I’ll give you some shooting lessons. I got plenty of ammo and I’ll even charge you for it. After all, nobody does anything for free.”  
"Better alive and poor than dead and rich. "She winked at him. "What are you gonna charge me?"  
Oddly she didn't offer him the sugar bowl with this- it was a legit business transaction and not an exchange of her womanly charms. He leaned over and swiftly pecked her on the lips, grinning impishly at her.  
“Had to steal one kiss before we parted ways.” He stood up and shouldered his pack. “Stay safe, yeah? And for fuck’s sake, learn your limits.” He waved at her and headed for the gate. Danni's face turned red as Hancock's frock coat and she drew up in righteous fury.  
"Asshole!" She called after him, flipping him the bird with both hands.  
The last thing Danni heard before Hunter exited through the gates was his uproarious laughter. In later nights before he deactivated himself, he would recall with perfect clarity her surprised face and her blush; it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.


	9. Dosed

A few weeks had passed since Hunter left Danni in Goodneighbor and he had amassed a decent stack of caps in the interim by hunting Raiders. There seemed to be no end to them.  
Danni lived it up in Goodneighbor. She got trashed every night, started at least one bar fight and screwed four guys in less than a two week period. That was odd of her- six or seven at the most was her total. Her heart really wasn't in it plus said guys were so wasted they could hardly please her. Suits, stoners, drifters, traders like herself were in and out of Goodneighbor so quickly that one face seemed to blur into the next. MacCready was not there. Rumor had it he was out on some pressing business. She hoped he'd be back soon and take extra to watch her back for a scavving job. She could definitely afford him now.  
Then after she'd given up hope -and run out of matches- a gnarled hand offered her a light. Muttering her thanks she looked up into the unpretty face of the mayor himself.   
" I heard some little hellcat was here spending caps like they're going out of style."  
Hancock looked like every other ghoul but for his attire- the coat of the historical John Hancock was unmistakable. "I also heard you were here with Hunter, our local raider exterminator."  
Danni nodded "Yeah he saved my ass and helped me get to Diamond City and here safely. I'd have more to trade but I lost Pooky." If Hancock had eyebrows he would have raised them. "My pack brahmin." She clarified.  
Taking off his tricorner Hancock placed it over his heart. "Rest in peace, Pooky, and godspeed." Danni laughed and Hancock smiled as he placed the tricorner back on his head.  
"Hunter's a good guy. Minds his own business. Raiders know to steer clear of Goodneighbor partly because of him." Hancock paused to take a drag of his own cigarette. "You see him again send him to me, dig?"  
"I dig."  
"Cool. See you around."  
As Hancock drifted around the corner and out of sight Danni laughed to herself, shaking her head and grinning.  


Hunter, meanwhile, was camped out in the ruins of the high rise where he first laid eyes, or rather his scope, on Danni. He was off again hunting Raiders who foolishly moved back into the general store where Porkchop and his crew met their end. He was watching them through his scope but..his heart just wasn't in it, nor was his head. He knew exactly why he was preoccupied and it was because of her. He didn't know who he could ask about his feelings because, as far as he knew, he was the only one of his kind that had ever fallen in love with a human. He sighed and withdrew from the window and leaned against the wall, lighting a cigarette. He then took out an old holotape player and turned it on. Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers began to play. He took a deep drag on his cigarette and slowly exhaled. "God dammit!" he hissed under his breath.  
After the encounter with Hancock Danni had a bounce in her step, the reason for which she could not analyze. Was it the charismatic leader and his sense of humor? No...it had sparked some peculiar warmth within her. Taking her usual seat at the Rail she found herself staring at the steps hoping Hunter would descend them, smiling. God that smile. There was something vital and refreshing about the man, and then it hit her like a sack of cement- she missed Hunter. A lot. More than she realized.  
"What the fuck are you doing?" he asked himself, quietly though as to not alert the Raiders who were nearby. "Are you seriously going to sit here and mope when you know where she is and how to get there? Get the fuck up and go see her, you fucking tin can." Emboldened by his "encouraging" self-talk, he packed up his things and put the radio away, smiling to himself. He looked out the window of the high rise at the group of Raiders who were currently enjoying a meal.  
"Sorry fellas, you don't get to meet the Reaper today. I'm just a boy who's about to stand in front of a girl and tell her.....Jesus what the fuck am I gonna tell her?" Hunter shrugged. "I'll wing it." He quickly and quietly left the high rise and headed in the direction of Goodneighbor. Some time later, he reached the gates and smiled; Danni was in there somewhere or at least he hoped she was still there. His heart seemed to be beating faster. 'Heart' being a bit of a misnomer in this case as his primary power cell was nothing but a miniaturized fusion reactor that thrummed just as a human heart's did. He pushed open the gates and went inside. If he was being honest with himself, he knew she'd be in the Third Rail, most likely drinking herself stupid. Eyes rolling at the possibility of having to get her drunken self somewhere safe, he headed right to the Third Rail and entered the old subway station, giving a nod to Ham, the Ghoul bouncer, who nodded back. He passed Ham and headed down the staircase into the lower level.  


And he would be quite right. Danni was sitting with her feet on the table guzzling her fourth beer. The dapper Mister Handy Whitechapel Charlie floated over the bar and pinched her foot with one of his robotic hands. "Oi! I said get yer clodhoppers off me table, ya ginger bint."  
Danni yelped and put her feet on the floor. "Jesus, Charlie! You trying to break my toes?"  
"I might if ya start trouble again tonight." Charlie somehow lifted his ponderous round body back over the bar, picking up a glass. "Took me hours to clean up that blood."  
"Easy, Charlie." Came a smooth voice. Magnolia lounged gracefully in her usual spot, the light shimmering off the sequins of her red dress. She smiled warmly at Danni. "Some fella got you down, honey?"  
"Er..no not exactly. "Danni rubbed the back of her neck.  
"I can spot man troubles a mile away. Nothing else drives a lady to drink her woes away except any man what walks in shoe leather."  
"Well...we met once and I can't...stop thinking about him."  
"Ahhh," Magnolia mused "The one that got away." She took a sip of her water. "So say he comes back. Are you going to swoon into his arms or play it coy? Or will you slap him in front of me, Charlie, God and everybody?" She chuckled.  
Hunter had descended the stairs in time to hear the slight commotion near the bar. He smiled the biggest smile he could ever remember; there she was, the girl he had fallen so hard for. He thought about creeping up behind her but decided against it. Instead, he made his way surreptitiously to a corner of the bar and sat down, facing away from Danni and Magnolia.  
Twirling a lock of bright hair Danni hemmed and hawed a while "Well, I don't know. That is supposing he comes back. I guess I'd tell him...I...missed him."  
Magnolia lifted a brow "That's it? I saw you knife that cad the other night when he was looking at you like you were a sweetroll. You give him your best cold shoulder and just when he gives up, reel him in."  
"How?"  
"Trust me, you'll know."  
Hunter heard enough. He stood up and went right up behind Danni. "And I think that if he came back, he'd tell her that he missed her possibly more than she missed him and that she's been on his mind constantly," he said, a small smile on his face.  
"Hope she's not giving you TOO much trouble here, Miss Magnolia," he said, giving the other woman a roguish wink. The air went out of Danni's lungs as she turned around to stare up into that familiar face. Her mouth worked but no words came out. "D-don't sneak up on me like that!"  
Magnolia smiled, said nothing, and rising made her way back to the stage. Danni glanced to the stairs. "You...wanna get out of here?"  
Hunter laughed at the comical expression of surprise on her face. "Was too tempting not to," he smiled, holding out an arm to her. "Yeah, I'd love that. Stars are beautiful tonight, for once." Once she took his arm, he would lead her out of the bar after tossing a wave to Magnolia. Once outside of the bar, they entered the remains of an old building and went right up to the roof where the stars in the night sky were actually visible.  
"Well you got me." Danni offered a weak smile and taking his arm ascended the stairs. Stepping out into the dim light of Goodneighbor she smiled at the place where she'd encountered Hancock. Hunter was a good guy, he'd said.  
"I didn't know about this place. I wonder how many of these buildings are still intact?" She commented briefly then looking up a sense of wonder swept over her. Night usually meant danger, cold, loneliness. But instead of the endless void she saw a dazzling stellar tapestry. Hunter smiled and pulled his holotape player from his pocket. He switched it on and it began to play the same song it was playing earlier. He set it down and turned to her, smiling, and pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her.   
“So you’d tell this guy you’d miss him, eh? Sounds like quite the character. What’s he like, hmmm?” He began to gently rock from side to side, swaying in time with the slow music. Danni wasn't familiar with the tune but instantly fell in love with it. She sighed wistfully as they'd begun a slow dance. "What's he like? Well he's...handsome...a great shot...kind and sweet. And a big jerk." The way she said the last word though it might as well have been 'darling'.  
Hunter smiled as she described him, laughing a little.“A ‘jerk’ eh? Heh..sounds like part of his charm to me.” They continued to dance while the song played. Hunter never knew it was possible to feel as he felt now. He didn’t know how she’d react if he told her what she was, but right now he didn’t care. All that mattered in the world right now was her. The song ended and he just held her, looking into her eyes.  
Danni chuckled softly at his comment and melted into his arms. As the song ended she gazed up at him ignoring the odd flutter in her stomach.   
"Is...something the matter? I'm not really angry at you, promise." He took her gently by the point of her chin and kissed her. It wasn’t a quick peck like a few weeks ago, but a gentle and loving kiss. Danni's heart nearly pounded out of her chest as he touched her face and her mind went blank as his lips pressed against hers. She responded in kind, not with the heat and urgency of her various flings and for a moment something warm and vital swept through her. The world was not a broken thing but bright and beautiful again. She feared it would go away as he broke the kiss but it didn't. He held it there, reveling in the feel of her soft lips on his. After a few moments, or several sunlit days, he broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers.  
“Nothing could be closer to perfect than this..” he murmured, nuzzling her nose with his.”Hunter pulled her closer against him and lifted her slightly off her feet as he held her. She was the only real thing in the world right now. He ran a gently hand along her back and lost himself in the depths of her eyes. The world could have broken out in a second nuclear war and he wouldn’t have noticed.  
"H-Hunter...?" Danni began but her mind was blank. Her eyes were bright and clear even as she fumbled with her feelings. Beneath the dirt and grime, the callousness and shrewdness anyone could read the pure emotion in her face. No one had consumed her thoughts like this before, no one wanted her heart, only her body. She twisted out of his embrace, looking as terrified as she might if he'd not kissed her so tenderly but was instead leveling his rifle right between her eyes. Thinking she had seen someone creeping up on them both somewhere, he swiftly drew his pistol and whirled around, ready to fire at a moment's notice. There was nothing there. "What the..what was that about? You acted like you just saw something." He turned back to her, stuffing his pistol back down his waistband, deeply troubled by the look on her face.  
Danni lowered her head and averted her eyes. "You shouldn't get involved with me. You're liable to get hurt. " She couldn't very well leave it at that. How could she explain. "I'm a merchant, the roads are dangerous...I've..made enemies...."  
Hunter listened, eyebrow raised slightly. He sighed. "You think I'm not liable to get hurt every second of every day, Danni? Have you looked around lately? My number could have been up the day I met you. What if I wasn't as fast as I was that day and Porkchop put a round through my head instead of the other way around? You're a merchant, I'm a Raider killer. EVERY road we take is dangerous, Danni. That doesn't affect the way I feel about you. You make me laugh, the way you talk and the way you love to party.." He huffed angrily. "I care for you, Danni, and I'll give you some time to think about that. I want to be with you. You need to be sure you want to be with me." He gave her one last burning look and went towards the door leading to the lower levels. He left the holotape player behind and it was now playing another song of the old world. Hunter meanwhile had gone, fuming slightly, up to the gate and climbed the access ladder to one of the lookout posts. He finally got up there and stood, looking up at the stars. He didn't anticipate her reacting negatively to his romantic overtures.  
Danni shifted uncomfortably. _But you don't know anything about me, not at all._ Her thoughts were a jumble and every time she tried to speak her mouth just opened but no sound came out. As he departed she made a little mewl of frustration.


	10. Our Song

Danni listened to the song a while then followed Hunter to the access ladder. He was there, and her heart sank as she read his body language- angry but perhaps anticipating an apology...and more importantly reciprocation. "Where'd you find a tape of that song? My mom used to sing it when I was young."  
Hunter was sitting at the very edge of the guard tower, legs dangling over the drop, staring morosely up at the stars. What had he done wrong? Were all human relationships this confusing? He heard her approach but elected not to turn around. He lit a cigarette and took a deep pull on it, idly puffing out small rings. He turned his head slightly to let her know he was listening. “Found it in a ruined house a bit outside Boston. I collect the songs I find and I know the ones I like; that’s one of them.”  
Squatting on the floor nearby Danni fumbled for her own cigarettes. "It's a nice tune, isn't it?" Finally she lit a cigarette and after a lull asked "Do you have any family? Mom collects music, too. Dad thinks it's kind of pointless but it's the little things that get us through the day, right?" Reaching up Danni scratched her head with her thumb. "Wonder how they're all doing. Hope they write soon."   
He shook his head. He’d told the same story over and over again to everyone who asked; only difference now is that he knew it was a lie programmed into him by the Institute. “I told you; parents were killed in a Raider attack in a little place near Goodneighbor. They were...well. They did the best they could with what they had. Dad taught me how to shoot, Mom taught me how to scav and how to learn what you should keep and what you should sell.”   
More silence. This was tougher than she thought. Danni licked her lips. "I'm sorry about earlier. But it's more than wasteland danger, it's-" she sighed. "I grew up in a tribe. Not a nice one. My grandfather is the leader and my father will lead after him. I guess it's more like a cult. Grandfather believes that our people are destined to 'cleanse the world' or something."  
“That sounds like those Children of Atom freaks that live in Glowing Sea; no disrespect of course,” he added hastily. “You’re...afraid to become attached to someone because of your tribe? What happened to you in there?”  
She nodded slowly, remembering. "The Children of Atom worship radiation and they're certainly no better. Well...they told us what to wear, what to eat, what to think. Even who to love. The ones Grandfather likes, he gives them servants. Slaves, more like. And they do whatever they want to them. Beat them, starve them. I got caught trying to give a man some water. Grandfather said I should be punished but I needed to 'remain pure', so...he...chose another girl my age and..made me watch. He made me watch as he whipped this innocent girl. " She took another long drag of her cigarette, hand shaking. "When I turned sixteen I couldn't take it anymore. I didn't want him to direct my life, choose my husband and do God knows what to my children so I..ran away. I tried to get Mom and Dad to leave with me but they...refused. I traded and scavved, sold whatever part of me I could to keep from starving. Maybe if I was 'impure' they'd forget about me. Staying on the move and unaffiliated keeps me safe, keeps everyone else safe. I'll wander until a bullet or a feral or whatever gets me. "  
Hunter listened to her story. He couldn’t literally throw up in his mouth but he wanted to. He felt a ripple of anger at the thought of such a despotic commune. He reached out and gently covered Danni’s hand with his own, giving her fingers a gentle squeeze. “I can’t say I know what it’s like to live through that. I can say that there’s nothing worse than being alone. It works for some people, but not for me. Not for you either. I want to be with you, Danni. I’ve never wanted anything more in my life, but I also want you to be happy and safe with me. If you need time to..to process this, take as long as you need. I won’t go anywhere until you tell me to go away.”  
She looked at her hand in his "I...want this very much. I do. And I hate being alone, it's just...better for everyone- I'm babbling, sorry. I've been...keeping an ear out for information. If they come looking for me Goodneighbor will be in trouble. I don't know what Grandfather will do to these people and I won't risk pissing off Hancock- ...oh speaking of Hancock he said he wanted to see you when you came back to town. I don't know what it was about."  
“Trust me,” said Hunter, his voice low and deadly. “If your grandfather tries anything, I’ll put one right between his eyes. Sure I hunt Raiders, but I keep places like this safe as well. I’m not going to let some despot walk all over everyone-”  
Danni's eyes went wide with horror "Hurt him- no!" she shook her head "He wasn't always like this- maybe he got in my head too much, maybe I'm stupid but...I still love my grandfather."   
Despite the surge of vicious anger he felt, the fact she wanted him like he wanted her was enough to cause a peculiar fluttering sensation in his stomach. His first thought was that he was malfunctioning. In later days he would realize that it was happiness. “Hancock wants to see me? Huh..well I better go and see what he wants. Will I see you later?” He turned to her and laced their fingers together.  
Bringing the subject back around to the mayor, grateful the topic was there to derail any more talk about her upbringing she said "Yes, of course you will." she stood, still holding his hand and with her free one guided his face to hers and kissed him gently. "Don't keep the big man waiting."  
Hunter’s lips met hers in a gentle kiss. He smiled and cradled her face with his. “Good. See you in a bit, then.” He pecked her on the nose and then descended the ladder to the ground. There was a definite bounce in his step as he made his way to the Old State House.  
"I think I'll stay here for a bit." Danni mused and sitting down gazed at the stars, resting her chin on her hands.


	11. Revelation

The Old State House was in relatively good shape considering the structure had been built in the eighteenth century. Within were the dapper city guardsmen toting tommy guns. They nodded to Hunter as he passed "Mayor Hancock's waitin' for ya's, up the stairs on the second level." one said indicating the spiral staircase. In his office awaited the ghoul of Goodneighbor in all his glory. Outside the door Fahrenheit waited, arms folded, watching . "You call yourself Hunter but here you are the prey. Watch your step."  
"Easy, Fahrenheit." Hancock called. "He's our guest." he scoffed then added under his breath "I know you're itching for a fight but let's choose our enemies carefully. "  
Hunter nodded his thanks to the guards and went up the stairs. He stopped outside the office when Fahrenheit warned him that he’d be watched. That’d be one fight you’d lose, my friend, thought Hunter, looking steadily into the woman’s eyes. He looked at Hancock. “I heard there was a psycho passing himself off as ‘mayor’. Imagine my surprise when I find out it’s just you.” He laughed and extended a hand. “Good to finally meet the legendary Hancock.”  
"We're going to have to make the doorways bigger to accommodate your massive balls." Hancock chuckled, rose from the couch and took the offered hand in a firm handshake."Good to meet the legendary raider killer. So as one legend to another let me formally welcome you to Goodneighbor. " Hands behind his back Hancock canted his head.   
"I heard you greased ol' Porkchop. Well done. I got a nice pile of caps for you. But I didn't invite you here to fling caps around so I'll cut to the chase. What's the story with this Danni? Not that I mind another pretty face in town but pretty face don't mean a pretty heart. "  
Hunter chuckled. “You do know how to flatter a man.” He nodded. “Yup. Was fun too. It’s like shooting off a radroach’s antennae. They just scurry around not sure what to do. They must have been dumber than the rest because they’d venture out trying to find me. That was where I met Danni. Porkchop was about a second away from knifing her in the back when I took him down.” He smiled when Hancock asked about the girl in question. “Welp, we’ve reached an..understanding per se. " He hesitated, not knowing if Danni would be angry about him telling Hancock about her family. “She’s probably get mad at me for telling you exactly why she’s scared and I’d rather not betray her trust well..ever. She’s just someone trying to make it in this fucked up world, doing what she has to to survive. She’s got a good heart, Danni does. In the market for a new pack Brahmin because her old one, Pooky, went home to the great farm in the sky.”  
Hancock snorted at the radroach comment, listening intently and nodding along. "Exterminating the vermin and saving a damsel in the process." At the comment about their blooming romance he placed both hands over his heart. "That's awful touching. Call me a sap but love is worth all this hell. " He held out his arms. "Love story and all it's my job to know who stays in my town, and while Goodneighbor is all about lettin' the people do whatever the fuck suits them I have some kook in power armor asking questions about this chick. So before you start thinkin' with the wrong head I'd be ever so grateful if you'd tell me why the fuck should I let either of you stay in my town another second?"  
Hunter’s head snapped up that. “That could be either bad or very very bad. Did this power armor have the Brotherhood of Steel symbol on it? If not, I’ll tell you who I think it is. Cats out of the bag now. Danni believes that her family will try and take her back to their little commune. Goodneighbor’s in danger if that happens. Danni doesn’t know what her pappy’ll do if he finds out she’s here and she didn’t want to risk making you angry. She likes you.” He made sure his sniper rifle which he always carried with him was free for use at a moment’s notice.  
"Nah, no sword and cogs, no markings at all. Though he did spout somethin' about 'the Kingdom' whatever the fuck that means." Hancock canted his head again "Do you know what the fuck that means?"  
“Listen, Hancock. She never wanted to bring trouble on anyone; she travels alone so no one else can get hurt. I can’t just let her face them alone. If you want us to leave, we’ll leave. But I’m damned if I’m gonna let these bastards run roughshod all over this town. You could use another gun and Betty here is rarin’ to go.” He patted the butt of his sniper rifle.  
"Never mind what it means." Hancock waved a hand dismissively. " But this so called leader sounds exactly like the kind of asshole I particularly hate. I don't abide tyrants. So seems like the puzzle's comin' together. As long as Danni's here she's under my protection. I ain't about to sell out one of my own but on the other hand I gotta do what's right by Goodneighbor. We've gotta kill this before it spreads. " Sitting on one of the sofas Hancock shuffled empty beer bottles and jet shooters about until he found what we has looking for. "And I think I have a solution." He held up a holotape.  
Hunter held up both hands. “Now wait a minute. I gotta tell you this first. If Danni’s granddaddy is coming, we can’t kill him. Danni, for whatever reason, still loves him. I can’t let anything happen to him as much as I’d like to. Him we just have to disable. I’ve no idea who Tobias is but if he’s related to this cult, he’s bad news.” Hunter broke off when Hancock pulled a holotape out of the sofa. “How’s a holotape gonna stop this carnage from happening?  
"Listen to the tape, dingus. Tobias is the leader, Danni is his granddaughter, haven't you been listening?" Hancock sighed patiently "One of the boys found that tape. It's a code to some underground bunker where these cultists are hiding. Snoop around, blow it up, I don't care. If I were you I'd tread lightly. Everyone thought the Children of Atom were harmless too and...well..look at Far Harbor."  
Hunter nodded. "Well what do you know about that," he said, looking at the holotape. "Certainty of death...small chance of success...what are we waiting for? I'll go have me a poke around this bunker and see what I can see. I'll go and let Danni know what's going on too." He held out his hand for the holotape.  
"I like your style. Happy hunting." Dropping the holotape into Hunter's waiting hand, Hancock picked up a bottle and raised it in a toast.


	12. Just A Moment

A voice, not belonging to Ella Fitzgerald, drifted down to Hunter in a faltering alto as though the singer was unsure what key to sing in. Often it would devolve into simple humming. Danni was still there- apprently the magic of George and Ira Gershwin hadn't left her. Hunter would find her sitting on the floor, singing or humming, bright eyed with new love and not a care in the world. Hunter smiled and ascended the ladder. Once he reached the top he went down to sit across from her, taking her hands in his and pressing her fingers to his lips. He simply let her sing so he could listen to her voice. He wondered to himself how he would tell her what he was about to tell her and eventually decided to just tell her. He waited until the song was over until speaking.   
"Danni..I should tell you this now before you find out some other way. There's been a man in power armor asking about you and Hancock is aware of it. I...told Hancock everything you've told me and he took it very well. His guys found a holotape containing access codes for the facility your...commune..is using. He wants me to go destroy it." His words had all come out in sort of a rush. "I'm sorry for telling Hancock, I really am..but he had the right to know if his town is in danger."  
Danni's singing did not falter even as Hunter appeared and took her hand. After the final note had died away her smile faded into puzzlement.  
"A man in power armor asking- oh fuck. FUCK. They have power armor. Grandfather is getting serious." She grew more anxious as he mentioned informing the mayor but sighed relief at Hancock's leniency and even willingness to help. The tale of Goodneighbor was that a decade ago Hancock and a group of equal minded drifters had overthrown the last mayor and it stood to reason he wouldn't abide anyone who mistreated those under their leadership. "I can't stand by and let Grandfather hurt these people. But I don't know what to do...promise me you won't go. Let me think of something else. If I can get back in and discover what they're up to- ..." standing she paced the room a long while. "I could say I'm bringing you in as a new ranger...I can brag about how you saved me and that you'd be well suited to protecting us."  
"No," said Hunter, firmly. "I'm most definitely not okay with the idea of you sneaking back into your commune and trying to recon. It's not that I have no faith in you, Danni, but what'll they do if they catch you?" He shook his head. "I can get in and out without being seen, trust me. I've done this plenty of times before." It was true, in any case. His built-in stealth field generator was much more advanced than even a Courser's field was. It produced no visible distorted image and as such the only way he would be detected was if someone were to bump into him. "PLEASE, Danni. PLEASE let me do this..I don't want to send you in there at all if I can avoid it."  
This time Danni rounded on him, her mouth set firmly "And what do you want me to do, sit here like a lump while you save the day? No. This is my mess and I'm cleaning it up. I'm what they want anyway-" She wiped a hand down her face "This is what I wanted to tell you earlier. I knew your type, you'd want to fix everything and all that would end in was you cold on the floor-" In an instant she held both his hands in a tight grip. "They won't hurt me. They need me. All I need is time. Please trust me on this."  
He looked into her eyes and saw determination and stubbornness in equal measure. He opened his mouth to speak and then closed it; she was right, after all. He would want to fix the problem and keep her out of harm's way, but she was capable in her own right. He pulled her close and held her to him as if savoring their last night together. He buried his face in her hair and didn't speak for several moments.   
"Okay," he murmured."Alright alright..I trust you. We'll do it your way and..yeah." He then grasped her gently by the shoulders and looked into her eyes. "I'll give you however long you tell me to give you to get what you need to get done done, but if I have to, I'm coming after you." He leaned it and kissed her again. It made his heart sing every time they kissed.  
"Also...those people are brainwashed. Most of them are still good. I know it. If we can stop them without shedding blood it would be better." She swallowed hard, heart calming as she was drawn into the refuge of his arms. "You're coming with me so you can be there if things go sour. All I ask is that you follow my lead- act like a lost soul coming to us for respite, swear to protect me, whatever." She returned the kiss, running her fingers through his hair. "Which you will..." she let the kiss linger. "Won't you..."parting from him she pressed a kiss to his neck, then jawline then found his lips again.  
Truth be told, he was just going to blow the entire thing up and end the problem immediately. He was relieved that he wouldn't have to do that; he no longer hunted down innocent beings just because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. He relaxed against her.   
"I'll swear to protect you y-yes.." he stammered on the last word when she pressed her lips to his neck. His hands contracted briefly as she touched his sensitive skin and his breath hitched in his throat a little bit when she kissed him on the lips again.  
A languid smile spread across her lips. "What's wrong?" She asked coyly but of course she knew and after one more peck like a signature brought her lips to the opposite side of his sensitive throat, brushing lightly and kissing at a slow unhurried pace. He was acting like a teenage boy. The thought had crossed her mind to invite him to her room at the Hotel Rexford but it was apparent he might be..inexperienced. Hunter was interested in women yes but pleasure was not a high priority for him at least not of the carnal nature. The next time their lips met she kissed him with a completeness that made her tremble. Any thoughts of going further fled, not that they were completely pure but there was maybe twenty percent naughty thoughts still there. Okay thirty.

The next morning they had woken and eaten with only gentle kisses exchanged between them. Hunter had dressed and was currently cleaning and reassembling his weapons. His onboard weapons diagnostics program contained data on all known weapons and he easily field-stripped and cleaned and reassembled his and Danni’s guns.   
“Jesus Danni, how long has it been since you cleaned these?” He had finally pried off the slide of Danni’s pistol cleaning out the accumulated grime and gunpowder.  
Danni had never known a more glorious morning. It was all too tempting to lure him back into bed- maybe get handsy until he couldn't take it any more. She couldn't remember the last time she'd taken a man to bed without going further than kissing. But he was busy and they had her old demons to slay. Danni pulled on her pants, a cast off pair of what was probably a military uniform- lots of pockets. Her shirt a short sleeved button down and she didn't bother to button it. She broke her fast in silence then watched him as he worked, still drooping with sleep. On his question she yawned.  
"Dunno. Wish we could stay in bed all day. But we've got bigger problems. The Commonwealth has bigger problems. I hope we won't have to use them." She eyed the firearms on the table. Every now and then she'd shift, purposefully giving slips of her breasts while watching him. What man in this world isn't distracted by either a nice gun or a nice pair?  
Hunter was all too aware of what Danni was doing. A smile came to his lips as he looked right at her. “I can take a hint,” he said, setting down the pieces of Danni’s pistol and standing up, wiping his hands on his pants. He went over to her and then sat down by her side, gently pushing her back on the bed and climbing on top of her, kissing her lovingly on the lips. Hunter moved a little back from her so he could have the pleasure of stripping her. Soon they were both naked. Hunter took in the red headed beauty before him. He smiled at her and took her right leg in his hands and kissed from her ankle to her hip, repeating with her other leg. He marveled at how soft her skin was; she lived a very mobile life which didn’t include a lot of time for skin care. That was another thing that most attracted him to her; she wanted to keep clean unlike many other humans. He took in the scent of her skin and listened to the way she breathed. He planted a gentle kiss on her thigh before moving upward, kissing her bellybutton a few times. He took her right arm and pressed his lips to her wrist, feeling the delicate pulse of blood beneath her skin. He watched her as he kissed each of her fingertips, repeating with her left arm. Danni lay prone as Hunter stripped her unhurriedly.Sitting up she did the same with him, removing his clothes, kissing his bare skin as she slowly uncovered him. His lips on her sent shivers of delight through her, this almost worshipful action. She lay there wondering how life could be so perfect.  
Hunter smiled and closed his eyes and let out a sigh as Danni’s soft lips kissed his skin. He let this go on for a few moments, savoring each feather-light touch before leaning back a little. He smiled at her and sat down by her feet. He lifted the right one and gently dug his thumbs into her sole.  
“Danni, your knots have knots,” he said, laughing a little. His thumbs made a gentle kneading motion from her heel to her arch and to each of her toes. He kept his eyes on her face to see how she reacted and repeated the entire process on her other foot, raising an eyebrow at the feeling of more knots. Danni groaned with pleasure. His thumbs massaging her constantly aching feet was pure bliss. This must be how the richies in the Upper Stands must live. "Heh, you spoil me."  
Hunter chuckled. “I can stop if it’s bothering you,” he said, giving her a mischievous wink. He gently kissed the top of her foot and then laid down next to her, pulling her against him.   
“Daniella Prower,” he said, as if testing out the way her name sounded and finding out that he liked it. “As much as I’d like to spend all day in bed with you doing nothing, we should really go seek out the tribe; the sooner the better, wouldn’t you agree?” He still wasn’t all that thrilled about having her anywhere near her old ‘family’, but he trusted her to look after herself and to get them both inside without arousing suspicion. Hopefully, at least.  
Hunter had discussed with Danni about his intention to infiltrate the commune. He had only left to do so after he had promised her that all he would do was recon. He had left Goodneighbor for the compound where the commune was rumored to be. He stopped briefly a few hundred feet away from the bunker to activate his built in stealth generator, slowly vanishing from view. He used the holotape given to him by Hancock to open the door and he entered. There was a barely functional elevator, but he decided against using that. He decided to make his way down the stairs and past various security checkpoints. Thanks to his stealth field, automated turrets were unable to detect him and security locks offered token resistance. He finally reached the area and hid himself, listening.  
A figure in flowing forest green robes with an elaborate tree ornamentation done in bronze entered. He was anywhere from forty to sixty but with a full head of white hair that had a few streaks of black remaining hung to his belt.   
"Brothers and sisters, rest assured we will not suffer in this steel belly much longer. As promised our harvest will be bountiful. But I have foreseen.." he paused, lifting his pale eyes to what looked like roots growing from the ceiling. "it will be at a terrible cost. Man has ravaged this land with their filth, their machines for far too long. The Brotherhood of Steel with their flying monstrosity and their metal skins. The Institute and their unnatural creations. All will be consumed. All will be eradicated before the might of the Mother!"  
The robed individuals swayed and murmured their agreement.  
Hunter listened, stony-faced, as they laid out their plan. He decided he had heard enough and quietly made his way back out and through the various hallways of the compound, taking care to rearm all the security measures he had deactivated. He finally made his way back and sprinted his way back to Goodneighbor. Hunter was frowning heavily as he made his way back to the Rexford. He arrived at his and Danni’s room and entered. “We’ve got a problem, babe.”  


Danni started up scattering Grognak the Barbarian comics onto the floor. With a sigh she knelt and began to pick them up, her face pale and drawn. "He didn't..."  
Hunter was worried by the expression on her face. He took her hands and pressed her fingers to his lips.   
“Daniella what is it?” He again felt a curious flutter in his stomach when he said her full name. “Who didn’t? Is this about your grandfather?”  
Danni nodded silently. "You said there were...plants." Gently she took his hand and moved it from her face, but still held it as though it were a lifeline.  
"There were plants...that son of a bitch-" Inhaling she tried to compose herself. "We were forbidden to use tech. Told it was evil. Then...they found this vault. I can't beli-..." Danni gave a tremendous sniff. "The plants they're...parasitic, I don't know. Grandfather, how could you.." Wiping her face with her poncho she stood. "We have to stop this. If we don't they'll turn the Commonwealth into mulch."  
“Woah woah slow down,” said Hunter, hastily. “Vault? What Vault would this be? How does it have anything to do with plants?” He was very worried now at her reaction. “Parasitic plants? I’m completely lost. Where is this Vault?”  
"It's out west, I think. There's a place called Oasis in the Capital Wasteland where plants still grow. Grandfather wanted to bring the plants to the outside world but it was too dangerous. He found a way. The vault. The plants inside kill, they were experimented on by Vault Tech. I read his notes...So he's using them to kill anyone who gets in his way...death is a part of life, he said. We humans are parasites, look at what we did to our Mother, he always said. We have to warn Hancock- don't let any of those druids in here they'll kill everyone."  
Hunter nodded. This was really bad news. If these Druids thought humans were bad, how would they feel about Synths? “Daniella..” he made sure she was looking in his eyes before continuing. “I know that you said that you still loved your grandfather, but..he’s dangerous, babe. Very dangerous. He can’t be allowed to live. None of them can be allowed to live and as much as I don’t want to say it, I have to; your parents are just as dangerous as your grandfather. Do you think there’s any chance they can be reasoned with?”  


"I should have never left. I could have stopped this before it got this far. I'm such an idiot." Her eyes wandered but then locked onto his. They were hard as nails. "Are you always this absolute? I told you we're going to talk and you want to go in guns blazing? Are you insane?"  
Hunter held up a hand for silence. “I never said I’d shoot first. We’ll give them a chance to end this peacefully. I’m not a murderer, Danni.” _Not anymore,_ he thought a little sadly. “But I have to be realistic. There’s every chance this can go pear-shaped. I need to know what your intentions are. I don’t want to put a bullet in your parents’ heads or your grandfather’s head and have you hate me forever; I couldn’t live with that. I need to know what you want me to do in the event that they won’t listen to reason.” He made a movement to embrace her but decided against it. “Don’t blame yourself for any of this. These Druids would have planned to do this horrible thing regardless of whether or not you had run away.”  
"I know. You're right. We'll talk and if things go sour-" She shook her head. "I don't think I could bring myself to pull the trigger even if..."  
Hunter pulled her close and held her. “I know, baby, I know. I wouldn’t want to put you in that situation.” He pulled back a bit, arms still around her waist. “If things do end up going wrong, I’ll shoot to disable. ONLY disable, alright? A bullet in the leg can put a person out of action just as easily as a bullet in the head.” He kissed her forehead and then held her. “I promise you I won’t kill them. Everyone else that decides to fight rather than talk, though, I make no promises. I can’t just let them all go on their merry way to plan another takeover.”  
Danni hesitated then nodded. She then became aware of how close he was to her. "That's the back up plan. Remember mine- follow my lead. They want me back and I can bring you into the fold. Just play along." Sighing she added "We also will have to keep our hands off each other. If they suspect we're...together...our cover will be blown." At this she wrinkled her nose. "Wonder who Grandfather chose. Probably Glen." Her eyes squeezed shut. "Oh god, Glen is a boring know it all! Ugh!"  
Hunter smiled. “Are we ‘together’? I don’t remember anyone making a formal declaration of togetherness. In which case..” he looked her in the eyes. “Will you be my girlfriend?” He smiled at her again.  
She deadpanned at him "I was trying to be nice. Would you rather say we were fucking?" Her cheeks colored with indignation. "I'm being serious- did you just tell me that twaddle to get under my poncho?"  
Hunter sighed. “No, Daniella. I was being quite serious. I’m sorry love, this isn’t the time for joking. You’re right of course. I’ll keep things professional between us during the duration of this mission.” He nodded at her.  
"Good. Let's get our shit and move out. Hm. guess I return and you led me back? Not like it's a lie or anything. Heh."  
“Right away,” said Hunter, stepping away from her and turning to his and her already packed duffel bags. “Took the liberty of packing all your shit while you were still asleep. Sooner we get this done, the easier I’ll breathe.” He swung his back over his shoulder and turned to her. “Let’s git,” he said, echoing her words.


	13. New Eden

By the time they returned to the bunker a peculiar scent greeted them. It was cool and natural, even. "Oh shit." Danni said. Along the metal walls crept roots and vines, some as big a human arm. "Do not. Touch. Anything. I'll see if I can...find a way in." Raising a finger to her lips she made it clear she wanted to pretend he'd never been there. Of course now with the invasive plant life the interior of the underground halls had changed drastically. Something cold and wet gripped her ankle and Danni shouted in surprise. Looking down it was a woman...or..what was left of her. Her skin was tinted green and the veins in her face stood out hard and black. "Please- h-...help me....!"  
Hunter frowned when they got within eyeshot of the bunker; it hadn't looked like this when he had gone out to recon the area. He frowned still deeper when Danni warned him not to touch anything. "What the fuck is this? Are these plants?" He sounded slightly nauseated. He started when Danni cried out in alarm and cursed, backing away several paces and drawing his pistol and aiming at the creature. "What the fuck is that?!"  
"Let go!" Danni growled as she pulled her ankle free. Then her eyes flared wide. "Angie...?" The woman on the floor let out a sob, tears leaking from her eyes as she slowly smiled. "You returned! Just as the archdruid said...! " her smile faltered. "I...I failed. I was to find you but now I...I return. It's too late for me. I know I am not worthy. But I ask...for...mercy."  
Danni went to take her hand but Angie pulled it away. "You mustn't touch, my lady. You know the Thorn isn't...picky. I apologize for my intrusion on your sacred person earlier."  
"What is this Thorn? Tell me all you can and then..." She looked pointedly at the gun in Hunter's hand.  
"You've...been away. The archdruid created the Thorn. With it he will restore nature and destroy Her enemies.Who is this...outsider?" Angie asked her voice nearly a whisper.  
Hunter looked at Danni. There was disgust evident on his weathered features and his eyes sparked with anger. "This is your commune, the one who wants to purge the world of everything and revitalize it?" He looked down at Angie, feeling equal parts disgust and pity. "Tell me about Thorn, Angie," he said, gently, kneeling down in front of her. "This is your Mother, then? Is this her blessing?" He forced down the disgust in his voice and gestured to what remained of her humanoid body.  
Vines snaked through the woman's body and Danni couldn't help but avert her eyes in disgust and fear. She gave Hunter a firm nod.  
"Yes. I was found..unworthy so I ...feed...the Thorn." She gave a nasty cough, ejecting some red, black and green fluid. "It...grows. The pain...!" A huge gasp. "The pain...it is...I see it. The Archdruid spoke of the Tree-" From her mouth burst a vine that split into more vines, wrapping themselves around the head of its host, muffling her screams. Danni watched transfixed then let out a wail.  
Hunter quickly screwed a silencer onto the muzzle of his pistol and emptied the entire clip into the spot where Angie's head once was, hoping to at least put the poor girl out of her misery, and he kept clicking the trigger even after the clip had emptied. Danni stared and covered her ears. That...-thing- that took over her old friend's body was making its own screams now. Its host thrashed violently on the floor then was still. Each subsequent shot seemed to jolt Angie back to life but the Thorn let out one last pitiful cry then was silent. His gun fell from his shaking hands and he turned to wrap his arms around Danni. "Jesus.." he whispered, horrified. Danni wrapped her arms around Hunter, terrified. "God..." She whispered "We have to hurry on. I think-"  
"Over there!" Came a voice. Hastily Danni pulled out of Hunter's embrace, whispering fiercely "Someone's coming! Stay cool...!"  
Hunter held her until she let go. He quickly holstered his pistol in his waistband and tucked his shirt over it. He was feeling even more uneasy than before. That poor woman had been assimilated into that plant thing and for what? This group was even more dangerous than he had originally thought. He turned and waited for the Druids to come.  
"Who goes there?" The pair of guards stopped, weapons raised. In their hands were spears looking to be made of living wood with sharpened stone heads. "This is the sanctuary of the Reverent, turn around and go back where you came."  
Danni held up her hands. "I am Danielle Prower, the archdruid's granddaughter. I've...come home."  
One of the men scoffed. "Yeah and I'm President Eden. Off with you."  
"Ask him if you don't believe me. Hope you like a tree up the backside if you send me away and he finds out."  
Hesitant, the man lowered his spear, flicking his eyes at Hunter. "And who is this?"  
"This is my...bodyguard. You will treat him with respect."  
Hunter sternly watched the approaching guards, folding his arms and assuming a threatening manner. He remained completely silent throughout the exchange between Danni and the two guardsmen. He suppressed a grin at sight of the primitive spears. He nodded curtly when Danni introduced him. "I make sure she gets wherever she needs to go," he said.  
The guards looked at one another hesitantly. "Fine. We'll tell the archdruid his 'granddaughter' is here and if you're lying, it's a tree up YOUR backside. This way." Leading the pair to the heart of the bunker it looked nothing like when Hunter had left. Inside was bursting with life, a veritable oasis. Grass, roots, flowers and even a small trickle of water into a pool. The first guard pointed to a bench. "Sit there. Right there. Do not move." Danni complied but plopped down as sulkily as a child being put in time out. Thrusting out her bottom lip she frowned, then gave Hunter a look of triumph.  
Hunter looked around as they descended deeper into the infested facility, frowning slightly. What sort of plants could do this? The Institute had data on Vault-Tec but even that knowledge would not have prepared him for what he was seeing. His thoughts went back to that poor woman who had been assimilated by what she called the ‘Thorn’. Whatever it was needed to die. He sat next to Danni and smiled slightly back at her.  
However old he looked the archdruid moved as though he'd grown wings. His pale eyes went wide.  
"Daniella...!" Rising Danni went to him but did not return his embrace. "Child..." he held her at arms length. "It's been so long. I've prayed for your safe return. " The corners of his eyes crinkled as she smiled at him. Looking past her Tobias smiled at Hunter. "And I have this gallant man to thank." He gestured for him to stand. "What is your name, sir?"  
Hunter stood up and after a moment's hesitation bowed slightly. "Hunter Kirkland," he said, shortly and succinctly. He was acting as a bodyguard to Danni and he wasn't sure if he should do a lot of talking or not. "I'm Miss Prower's bodyguard." He nodded at him.  
Spreading his hands, the smile on Tobias' face did not reach his eyes "I thank you for bringing my precious grandchild back home safely. I would like to extend you a formal invitation to join us. I'm certain Daniella has told you about our cause. But come, let me show you around." Gesturing for them to follow Tobias led through a long hallway overrun with plant life. "Before the apocalypse this was a water treatment plant. Our ancestors polluted the earth so badly they had to wound Her to correct their mistake. And now look around you. Radiation pollutes everything. Thousands of species, eradicated . Cleansed in fire. Yet the most dangerous species exists. "  
Reaching up he pulled an apple, red and shiny from a tree branch and held it out for them to see. "Our goal, our sole purpose is to correct Man's mistake. We will recreate Eden. Only this time we will not be tempted."  
Hunter followed in relative silence, listening to the man speak. He kept his hands in his pockets to hide his clenched fists. "So...this Thorn is something you're going to unleash on the Wasteland?" He sounded impressed and a little awed, successfully concealing the disgust he felt.  
Danni trailed behind her grandfather. She didn't dare look at Hunter but her face was ashen. Turning the apple in his hand Tobias looked up "So you've witnessed the Thorn? "  
"Sister Angie..." Danni spoke up. Tobias canted his head slightly.  
"The traitor, yes. I'm surprised she made it that far."  
"What did she do?"  
"She traded words with the enemy. The Brotherhood of Steel sullies this land with its machines, they take from the earth and give nothing in return. Like spoiled children." Pulling aside a wall of vines two power armor suits stood. Not at their normal unoccupied poses but bent at unnatural vines. "Their 'toys' cannot withstand the Thorn's might. It is Mother Nature's right arm. They would halt our progress. Cleaning the radiation from the land and water, life will flourish again." he stopped and one might almost believe he was a kindly old man, the way he smiled. "We have everything we need here. Fresh water, food. Brotherhood. We are all children of the earth. Join us and you will be part of something great- the salvation of this scorched world. "  
Hunter’s HUD was currently urging him to kill Tobias Prower but Synth overrode his killing protocols. “Yeah, I saw it. Freaky fucking thing, honestly. I’m not at all about your religion, but Miss Prower pays me well to watch her back so where she goes I go.”  
Tobias scoffed and handed the apple to Danni who took it. She stared at it as though she'd never seen it before. Indeed, she hadn't. Did apples grow in pre war Massachusetts? Who knows.  
"Typical mercenary. I suppose you'd expect caps and to take your leave then, hm? Perhaps you will change your mind, in good time. Daniella."  
The girl still stared stupidly at the apple then looked up "Hm?"  
"I have many important matters to discuss with you. You're not planning on running off alone again, are you." It wasn't a question.  
"I wasn't planning, no."  
He waved away her comment. "You've certainly picked up the insolent tongue of a wastelander. Your pet mercenary may tag along as he wishes but he can wait outside my chamber. Come."  
Hunter raised an eyebrow at the man’s tone. “Yeah? So the fuck what? We do what we gotta do to survive in the Wastes.” He followed along, filing away the ‘pet mercenary’ remark as something to bring up later. However, when the old man told him to wait outside his chambers, he frowned slightly, but accepted it; they had made it inside and defying old man could get both of them killed. He grunted. “Whatever, man, I’ll be out here, Miss Prower.”  
After a long journey past lush gardens, toiling slaves and more power armor suits writhing with living greenery a wall of roots rolled aside. The floor was inscribed with the same tree insignia Tobias wore. Danni shrugged at Hunter and followed her grandfather inside, casting one last pained look at Hunter before the roots closed up again. He watched her walk away, keeping his clenched fists in his pockets. However, it was not difficult with his enhanced senses to hear what they were saying.  
"The wastes have changed you, child. "Tobias was saying, and the sound of his tread across the room was distinct. He moved with more grace than a man his age ought to. "Tell me what made you decide to come back to us."  
"Well.." Danni started. "I missed you."  
"Hmph. I'd hoped to wed you to Phoenix. He's a fine lad. But his parents grew impatient and I gave him Lisa instead."  
Danni scoffed. "Phoenix is as hot as his namesake but he's a boring know it all who cheats at checkers. Lisa's an airhead who doesn't know where babies come from. They can have each other."  
"They've both been given to the Thorn."  
There was a pause. "What?"  
"Lisa's child was quite obviously not Phoenix's. They were given to the Thorn, her for being unfaithful and he for not keeping his wife happy which caused her to stray. Don't gawp, my dear. It's unbecoming." A snap of fingers. "Tara, Alice. Take Daniella and see if you can scrub the wasteland stench off her."  
"This way." Came a new voice, soft and feminine.  
Twenty minutes later Danni grumbled "These robes...they're...so itchy."  
"Good." Tobias said "Now I can stand to be near you. Now..."  
There was a sound of a struggle. Hunter's fists balled and he thrust them into his pockets. _What is he doing to her in there?_  
"What is th-"Danni's words were choked off. When she could breath again she demanded "What the hell did you do to me!?"  
"I've granted you power over the Thorn. Use it wisely. " There was a long pause, and Danni still panted. Then, "So many years of careful breeding. To think my own descendant would be the one to succeed me. I couldn't be more proud. " Danni coughed, sputtered, tried to ask more questions but no words came. Tobias went on. "Years and years and years and we come to it at last. So many died to get us where we are now. Your mother and father would be so proud."  
Taking a huge breath Danni asked "Would? You mean will."  
"They gave their lives for our cause."  
Danni wailed but her sobs were soon muffled. "There there..." Tobias soothed. "The Brotherhood of Steel tracked us here. They fell defending our base, side by side. We will have our vengeance."  
Hunter listened and as he listened his jaw clenched tighter and tighter. There was enough pounds per square inch of force in his jaws that he could have bitten through steel. It was lucky he had suspended the secondary objective of protecting her otherwise he would have slaughtered the old man. However the moment she began to sob, he felt a strange sensation in his stomach. It was like physical pain listening to her heartbroken wailing. Hunter sighed. He didn’t want to hear any more of her pain but apparently his combat protocols believed it was necessary. He continued to listen.  
"Go and rest." Tobias said. "We have much work to do."  
The roots opened and Danni emerged moving like a sleepwalker. The forest green robes enveloped her, a perfect counterpoint to her red hair with a bronze tree brooch pinned to her shoulder. She passed Hunter like she didn't even remember he was there.  
Hunter stood up as she emerged. He opened his mouth to speak to her but stopped. There was something wrong with her. His eyes narrowed as he scanned her. 

#####FOREIGN CONTAMINANT DETECTED#####  
Clarify.  
PARASITIC ORGANISM DETECTED IN CEREBRUM.  
CALCULATING PROBILITIES OF HOST DEATH.  
PROBABILITY UNKNOWN.  
ADDITIONAL DATA REQUIRED.  
Override command: amend secondary directives. Protect Daniella Prower and seek cure for parasite.  
COMMAND OVERRIDE ACCEPTED  
SECONDARY OBJECTIVES UPDATED

All of this happened in Hunter’s HUD in less than a few seconds. “Miss Prower?” He went to touch her shoulder.  
Danni said nothing but stopped. The veins in her face were more visible for a moment then faded. She stared at Hunter. Through him, really. Then she turned away and kept on at a brisk pace not stopping until she reached a room designated for her and cast herself on the bed, weeping in bitter gulping sobs.  
He followed her, ignoring the flashing alert icon on the lower right side of his HUD. Once he closed the door behind him, he went to her side and took her into his arms and held her. Danni cried a long time in Hunter's arms, not caring if anyone saw them. Her mind reeled . She'd thought she'd come home to her parents . They were the main reason she'd returned. They couldn't be gone. Eventually exhaustion overtook her and she slept. As Danni finally slept, Hunter scanned her again, his photoreceptors adjusting to allow him to take a magnetic resonance image of her body. He saw the parasite in her brain and frowned. 

Scan foreign organism.  
####SCANNING####  
FOREIGN BIOMATTER ANALYSIS: PHOTOSYNTHETIC ORGANISM  
CONTAINS CHLOROPHYLL  
HUMAN DNA STRANDS DETECTED IN BASE-PAIR SEQUENCES  
CARNIVOROUS  
HYPOTHESIS: THORN SPECIMEN.

####PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVE####  
LOCATE AND TERMINATE ORGANISM DESIGNATE ‘THORN’  
The most subtle stirrings indicated Danni was awake. No preliminary burrowings or tossing and turning but she was awake. She lay in Hunter's arms feeling like she could stay there forever, sleep more and live in a world where her parents were alive. In that dream world she and Hunter saved everyone, stopped her grandfather's plans and built a new tomorrow with Hunter at her side. Now those hopes were crushed. Danni gazed up at him forlornly then pressed her lips to his , and again more fiercely, even nipping at his bottom lip.

Run cerebral scan.  
####RUNNING CEREBRAL SCAN####  
FOREIGN BIOMASS DETECTED IN CEREBELLUM  
INFILTRATION OF AMYGDALA CONFIRMED  
HOST WILL DISPLAY UNUSUALLY AGGRESSIVE TENDENCIES  
CALCULATING LIKELIHOOD OF HOST DEATH  
ADDITIONAL DATA REQUIRED

Hunter was surprised when she woke up and kissed him and even more surprised, and slightly worried, when she kissed him so passionately. Instead of embracing her tightly, he pushed her back slightly. "Danni...we can't. Not here..remember we're on a mission. If your grandfather were to find out.."  
She stopped. He was right. It had been her own rule she was breaking. No affection, only business. If Tobias even suspected Danni had taken an uninitiated man as her lover who knows what he'd do to him. She needed him to take away her pain, even for a moment, but he was right. Reluctantly she followed through his push, unlinking her arms from around him. "Listen. I know you don't think much of the Brotherhood of Steel. But you know what they say...the enemy of my enemy is my friend. If we can somehow...alert them. Surely some of them will see reason." Sitting on the edge of the bed Danni rubbed her temples. "They have outposts all over, right? If we can meet them, get in their good graces..."  
Hunter sighed in relief when she realized that he was right. He frowned at her next words. “Danni..” he sighed. “I really don’t think that’s the best idea. I have no better ideas but..like you said. Enemy of my enemy. I think alerting them is what we’re gonna have to do but..” he looked at her. “You do know that they’ll execute your grandfather, right?”  
Danni chewed her lip then nodded slowly. "The Brotherhood are not monsters, they're people. They can be reasoned with. I.." she touched her temples. "The others are infected with this Thorn too. I can sense it somehow. But here's what we'll do. Grandfather wants to turn me against the Brotherhood to avenge my parents. I don't know if he's telling the truth or not but no one will question if we leave to seek them out. Someone will know what happened. We can ask around."  
Hunter nodded. He should have told her long ago that he was a Synth. He knew that if the Brotherhood somehow found out, he’d be destroyed. He sighed. “Alright, Danni. I trust you. I don’t think I should do any talking here. I’m just going to look threatening.” He smirked at her and leaned over and pecked her on the nose.


	14. Threshold

The first step of Danni's plan was simple enough. She'd spoken to Tobias alone and told him her intention to seek the Brotherhood of Steel for any information they might posess. Tobias did not press her further to her relief. They departed the shelter and once a safe distance Danni hid the robe in a footlocker in an old apartment building. As she changed she laid out her plan. She'd been aching to be alone with Hunter again since their first night together but even stripped to her undergarments she was all business.  
"Grandfather says there's a bunch of Brotherhood using the Cambridge police station as a headquarters. Recon squad Gladius I think it's called. You won't have any trouble getting recruited, I think. Me, on the other hand..."  
Hunter was cleaning and repairing both his and Danni’s guns. He wasn’t too thrilled about having to join up with the Brotherhood of Steel but knew that it was vital to the success of their mission. His only concern was what would happen if they found out what he was; there was no doubt in his mind that they would destroy him on the spot. At least they would try, he amended in his head. He was surprised to feel a certain disquiet at the possibility of having to kill them all should his identity be revealed. He looked over at Danni and wished, not for the first time, that he was human like her. “Looks like Cambridge is my first stop. I’ll do what I can there and you do what you can here. Please..” he reached over and took her hand. “Please be careful.”  
Danni smiled at him weakly, wishing he'd hold her hand forever. A feeling of doom crept over her though she couldn't pin down what caused the thought to invade her world. She had Hunter and together they'd stop whatever cruelty Tobias had in store for the Commonwealth. "You be careful too. "  
-  
The ruins of Cambridge police station were barricaded with a semi circle of scrap, reinforced and guarded by those sinister looking metal suits. Exiting the building one of the armored individuals stopped to regard the newly come man, obviously not an initiate.  
"Hey. You lost?" the voice was filtered but obviously female.  
"Knight McKagan, Paladin Danse is gonna have your ass in a sling if you keep bringing in strays." grumbled one of the initiates.  
The armored woman shrugged. "No harm in givin' directions. " The suit clanged closer. "Don't mind them, they're afraid of catching our wastelander cooties. You need help with somethin'?"  
Hunter froze as the female Knight addressed him. He looked at her, sizing her up.

Initiate scan.

BROTHERHOOD OF STEEL KNIGHT  
MARK T-60 POWER ARMOR  
##ANALYZING STRUCTURAL WEAKNESSES##  
FUSION CORE VULNERABLE TO CONVENTIONAL FIREARMS  
HYDRAULIC LINKAGES IN ARM AND LEG SOCKETS VULNERABLE TO CONVENTIONAL FIREARMS  
ON-BOARD COMPUTER VULNERABLE TO ELECTROMAGNETIC INTERFERENCE

Threat level Alpha. Stand down.  
THREAT LEVEL ALPHA CONFIRMED.

Hunter's combat protocols had analyzed the woman's power armor and pointed out the weaknesses in it in less than two seconds. He gave a curt nod to the woman. "I hear this is where Recon Squad Gladius is holed up. I hear you're looking for a few good men to fight the good fight."  
The suit shifted a bit uncertainly. "Well...Paladin Danse is the one in charge around here. We're about to head out but if you can convince him to let you tag along you can prove your worth. Or die. Horribly. Makes no difference. " Just then another power armor exited the building, this one with more elaborate red markings- surely the Paladin. The face visible from the suit was boyishly handsome though scarred, and in want of a razor.  
"McKagan, did you-"  
McKagan made a small gesture at Danse. "Your helmet, sir?" She suggested to which Danse smiled, helm in hand.  
"Of course." Tipping the t60 helm forward in preparation to don it, Danse paused at the sight of the newcomer. "This is no place for civilians."  
"Wait." McKagan said. "He's looking to join up."  
Placing the helm on his head Danse's voice held that familiar electronic filter. "We're not babysitting today McKagan. Elder Maxson wants us to look into the Isaacson case immediately. Let's go."

####ALERT####  
####ALERT####  
####ALERT####  
ROGUE GEN 3 SYNTH DETECTED  
DESIGNATION M7-97  
CONTACTING INSTITUTE...........  
ERROR: COMMUNICATIONS NODE INOPERATIVE  
ERROR: RELAY NODE INOPERATIVE

 

Override command: Suspend SRB directive.

COMMAND OVERRIDE ACCEPTED: SRB DIRECTIVE SUSPENDED.  
HK UNIT UNABLE TO CONTACT INSTITUTE.  


"Wasn't asking to be babysat. You want an extra gun to watch your back or don't you?" He folded his arms and looked M7-97 square in the face. His tone was both confident and challenging.  
Danse sighed patiently "This isn't mercenary work. We don't need 'extra guns'."  
"Now hold up a second." McKagan cut in. "I was just a mercenary when you met me."  
"You're different-"  
"How am I different?"  
Shaking his head Danse sighed again. "Keep up. McKagan, fill him in."  
"Yessir."  
Both suits clanged along at a steady pace. "Don't see why we can't take a vertibird..." McKagan grumbled. "Anyway. We're heading to Isaacson Farm, a settlement just west of here. Someone in t60 killed the owner and his daughter was kidnapped. We don't know if the two incidents are related."  
Hunter suppressed a smirk. _Bet the Brotherhood doesn’t need Synths for soldiers either, buddy._ He followed the woman and Danse. “Anything odd about this power armor?”  
"It was Brotherhood issue. Had the sword, wings and cogs on it." Danse said, then beckoned to McKagan. "You take point."  
She nodded. "Got it."  
"I personally think it was stolen. If that's true we have a dead brother or sister to find. If not we have a traitor to apprehend."  
"So.." McKagan ventured "What's your name, new guy?"  
"Let's hope there's no traitors. I know you Steelies take it personally." He watched M7-97 order the woman into position. 'McKagan' she seemed to be called. Another scan of the woman indicated she was as human as human could be, yet she seemed...different somehow than most other humans he had met. "Hunter Kirkland. What about you? Can't just call you 'McKagan', can I?" He smirked a little.  
"Steelies. Heh." McKagan tromped along then hummed a bit. "Diane McKagan. But yeah if you're let in something about there being no genders on the battlefield, no familiarity, whatever. McKagan is fine. "  
Danse had been quiet but now he put in "McKagan was a wastelander like yourself but she joined us sometime ago. She's been a valuable asset, a dedicated soldier."  
Hunter nodded. "Pleased to meet you, Diane." He nodded at her. "She was a Raider killer?" He looked at Diane with a whole new respect in his gray eyes.  
McKagan held out her armored hand as though she expected one of them to kiss it."Oh Danse yer makin' me blush."  
"I only speak the truth." Danse said kindly.  
"Ohh ho ho~ hold up."  
Putting up an armored fist she signaled the two to stop. Bringing up the rifle that was slung over her shoulder she peered through the scope before passing it to Danse. "Over there. Ferals. "  
The paladin looked through the scope then handed the rifle back to its owner. "Stick together, don't let them flank us."  
Kneeling, McKagan took up her position. "Flush 'em out and let me pick 'em off? Whatcha think, Hunter?"  
Hunter held out a hand for her sniper rifle. "Mind if I take a little looksie?"

Confirm identity: Diane McKagan.

SCANNING INSTITUTE DNA FILES

MATCH FOUND  
MCKAGAN FAMILY MATRIARCH  
APPARENT AGE: 31  
ACTUAL AGE: 241  
HUSBAND: -DECEASED-  
SON: SHAUN MCKAGAN (FATHER)  
EMERGED FROM VAULT 111 CRYOSLEEP  


"If I hear any more singing of my praises my ego will swell then my head will have its own gravitational pull." Diane said pleasantly, handing off the rifle to Hunter. Danse decided to bring her down a notch.  
"You are a fine soldier. Even if you do sing when you're nervous."  
McKagan was indignant. "Excuse me I do not sing..."  
One could practically hear Danse's smile as he replied. "Whatever you say. "  
Hunter looked at the pair of them, readjusting Diane's scope as it was slightly out of focus."Are you two finished or were you planning on breaking into a duet?"  
"Danse doesn't sing." said McKagan, disappointingly.  
He rolled his eyes and looked through the scope. "Ooh yeah. Ferals alright." He set Diane's rifle by his side and pulled both of his favorite pistols from his waistband, checking that the safeties were off and both were fully locked and loaded. He stuffed them back into his waistband and picked up the sniper rifle, resting it on his knee and taking a deep breath, sighting the foremost Feral. He slowly exhaled and squeezed the trigger. A sharp crack! split the air and the lead ghoul's head promptly exploded and showered the area around it with gore. The other ghouls near the dead one let out growls and hisses of anger, breaking out in a dead sprint towards Hunter, M7-97, and Diane. A smirk crossed Hunter's face as he carefully set Diane's rifle aside and drew both pistols. He raised them both and waited until the group of charging ghouls drew closer. He began to empty bullets into the horde of ghouls until finally the last one dropped, rolling a few meters because of how fast it had been running.  
Hunter brought the muzzles to his mouth and blew away the smoke. Paladin Danse took a few steps back as Hunter opened fire. Diane watched as Hunter expertly handled her sniper rifle. "Hey!" she pouted. That was -hers- dammit. And he was much better. She glanced at the paladin, wondering if he approved or not. Danse stood with his laser rifle across his shoulder and just watched which seemed to come as a surprise to her. First impressions are important. Hunter could handle himself just fine. Scrambling for her side arm -a laser pistol- the ferals had all dropped before they were in range.  
"I don't say this lightly, " Danse began. "But that was impressive, Kirkland."  
Diane applauded as best as her metal hands allowed. "Can we keep him!?"  
Hunter held up a hand. “Shh. Listen for a few moments,” he whispered. He turned his head this way and that, searching for more ghouls. It had been bitter experience that taught him to keep a sharp eye on ghouls. Chances were that another pack of ghouls heard the shots and were coming to investigate. After a few minutes, he sighed and stuffed his pistols into his waistband again. “Okay good. Only herd we have to deal with is this one.” He handed Diane’s rifle back to her. “Nice rifle. Weight’s just right, kickback isn’t too bad.”  
Both armored figures scanned the horizon. Either that was all or the noise and the death of their kin had frightened away any additional ferals. "We're clear." Danse confirmed. "Nice shooting." and started off again but at a less brisk pace. Holstering her pistol Diane took back her rifle and slung it over her shoulder. She cast a glance in the direction of the ferals. It was difficult to remember, in the moment of battle, that ferals were once people. Sheltering in fear after the bombs fell, slowly mutating then going mad only to be put down like rabid animals. Diane sighed and trudged off after Danse.  
"Good eyes, McKagan." he said. She only nodded absently. To Hunter she said "Thanks. I call 'er Ennui. So I literally kill things with boredom. Heh. I tend to favor heavy weapons -more big bang boom- but they're too unwieldy for me. Not so bad when I'm in armor but outside of it I have little stick arms that might just break."  
They continued on while Hunter kept his eyes and ears out for any hostiles. He looked at Diane when she told him the name of her gun. “Ennui? What language is that?”  
"I seem to recall you killing a mirelurk with a docking hook." Danse put in.  
"Yeah that was pretty awesome."  
"You let yourself run out of ammo."  
"I'm a wastelander! I improvise!"

Danse's tone was severe now. "It's that attitude that will get you killed one day."  
Hunter nodded appreciatively. He chuckled as he heard Danse and Diane go back and forth. “My pleasure. Let’s git.” He saw Diane looking over her shoulder in the direction of the dead ghouls. “Helps if you don’t think of them as people,” he said a little sadly. “Their fate was sealed long before we arrived. Putting them down is the nicest thing we can do for them.” He lightly punched her power-armored shoulder.  
Thankfully Hunter could not see her face behind her helmet. Had he read her mind? Was there mindreading modules on her helmet no one told her about. Diane didn't reply but clanked off after Danse. "Uh it's French I think? Ahn-whee. It sounds French. I guess it's French."  
“We Wastelanders are good at improvising. We have to be. Wasteland’ll eat you up and shit you out dead with zero warning if you let it.”  
Hunter smiled slightly. There was something about her that Hunter liked. Strange...very strange, he thought to himself. He could see Diane as a sort of comrade even though he was the embodiment of everything the Steelies, as he called them, were against. “French, huh? Sounds French to me. Wee wee and all that,” said Hunter in a rather terrible French accent. So, Dia-...uh..McKagan. Anything else you can tell me about where we’re going? I’m guessing there was an eyewitness to the murderous Power Armor?”  
"I mean lots of people name their weapons. "McKagan went on "Danse likes names like Righteous Authority. I heard the Elder uses a gatling laser he calls Final Judgement. I'm surprised he didn't name it Excalibur. Would have been too obvious, maybe." To herself she mutters 'a gatling -laser-' in a 'Jesus Christ in a dump truck SOMEONE is compensating for something' manner. Danse seemed to hear her and turned to her, but said nothing. Strange, yes. But it would seem poor Danse hadn't hit critical mass of 'RRRGH goddammit, woman!' with her yet. "I have Ennui, my laser rifle is called Supernova but SOMEBODY broke it-" She glanced pointedly at Danse. "then I have a combat shotgun called Black Heart..uhh what else....I haven't named my pistol, not this one. I had a 10mm named Shenanigans but the FUN POLICE don't think it's as hilarious as I do."  
Danse matched her pace and couldn't mask the amusement in his voice."That's because they sounded unprofessional."  
"That I wanted to name my rifle Fluffy Kitten?"  
Danse's helmet made odd crackling noises...was he...chuckling...?  
"Oh come on! Righteous Authority, Final Judgement, BLACK HEART, all intimidating serious names. Strike FEAR into the heart! But who would freely admit they lost to some idiot using a weapon called Fluffy Kitten?"  
Obstinate silence. She shrugged. "Proctor Teagan thought it was funny."  
"Your professionalism needs work but your...antics...boost morale."  
"Oh so I'm the class clown. Wonderful. But yeah, the farmer's kids saw what happened. The oldest did, anyway. There's talk of some weird druid cult going around too but we're not sure if they're related to the kidnapping."  
Hunter watched the byplay between the two, rolling his eyes but grinning to himself, chuckling here and there. However, when Diane mentioned the Druid cult, he looked at her. So Gladius was aware of Tobias’ cult after all. “I’d bet anything they are related. I was at a water treatment facility and it looked like it had been infested by some sort of parasitic wildlife. It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.” He shook his head. “I need help from both of you but this farm seems like a good lead.”  
"Cut the chatter. We'll talk more when we get there." Danse said sternly, forging ahead. Raising a hand palm up McKagan made a small shrug then followed her CO. There were no more baddies for a ways then a large farmhouse appeared.  
"This is it, sir." Diane announced. "So...I was going to ask...should we approach in our suits...given what happened? Seeing power armor might...upset the family."  
Danse was quiet a long time. "It might be too dangerous without it." He pondered a moment. "Knight, exit your power armor. Go talk to the woman of the house. Kirkland and I will recon the area. Plus I'd like to ask him a bit about this cult."  
"Yessir. Exiting power armor."  
With a hiss Diane pressed the release of the unit. The metal panels sprang open and Diane freed herself from the shell, stepping backward and adjusting her glasses. She was tall though shorter than Danni, clad in a Brotherhood of Steel uniform and around her wrist was a Pip Boy. Curling in her lips she gave Hunter a wide eyed look before waving at the two men, making her way to the farmhouse tuning the knobs on her Pip Boy all the while, the device hissing and crackling.  
“Stay safe, Diane,” said Hunter as she exited her armor and made her way to the farmhouse. He watched her walk away and the turned to look at Danse. “I don’t know much about it myself. My girlfriend, Danni, is involved but not willingly. Her grandfather, Tobias, leads the cult and intends to purge the world of everything. He’s got some parasitic plant thing he calls the Thorn and, from what I’ve seen, it’s extremely carnivorous.” He recounted everything he heard and saw, leaving out the part where Danni had been infected with something related to the Thorn. He then described the infested facility where the cult was located and described the power armor he saw inside it.  
Danse listened gravely and with interest. "I'll write up a report and forward it to the Elder. As soon as McKagan gets back we'll proceed from there. "  
Still as a statue the paladin stood sentinel, surveying the horizon. Then Diane came running.  
"Paladin Danse!" She shouted then stopped before him, breathless. "Paladin Danse. They found...the suit. Maybe we can...find something...on it.." Looking over her shoulder she pointed. "Down in that thicket of trees a ways. It was abandoned. The kids found it. " Climbing back in her suit she panted a bit longer. "What's up?"  
Danse quickly outlined what Hunter told him, at which Diane groaned. "Well there are the connected dots. "  
Hunter looked at the pair. “Whatever you do, don’t touch it. If you have incendiary weaponry, give it a good spray before you do. It infects people then eats them from the inside out. Danni hopes to resolve this peacefully. I promised her that I’d shoot to disable rather than kill and I’d like you to do the same. If diplomacy fails, then we shoot to kill.”  
"Plants that eat people...?" Diane wondered aloud as the trio proceeded to the abandoned suit. Her hand reached for her helmet where her mouth might be. "That's..horrible. I know it must have been awful but you were right to end that poor woman's misery."  
"If those people are infected..." Danse said slowly "We might not have any choice but to put them down."  
"W-well..maybe they can be purged?" Diane asked hopefully.  
"If they spread as quickly as Kirkland described we might not have the luxury of time." At the little sound that came from Diane's helmet, Danse backpedaled with a middle of the road special. "We'll do everything we can."  
There it sat, the suit of power armor bent at odd angles just like the ones Hunter and Danni encountered in the druids' enclave.  
"Eugh." Diane groaned. "What smells?"  
"I'm afraid..." Danse started as he brought his laser rifle to bear. "That it's too late for our traitor." He scoffed. "At least he didn't get the easy way out."  
"No one deserves that." Diane said quietly. In her hand was a pole hook, of the type used by fishermen. She gave the suit a cautious prod, then another. The empty suit rocked back and forth.  
Danse shouted "Get back!" and as they retreated vines crept towards the knight suit, claiming the pole hook. It would have sooner claimed Diane's arms but red streaks of light cut through them. Dropping the hook Diane panted. "Well fuck all this. Damn plants. What we need is a flamer."  
Danse raised a hand and signaled for silence.  
In the distance there was a low threatening growl...


	15. Murder Machine

Hunter followed the two, grim-faced.His olfactory sensors were much more sensitive than a human’s, and no doubt Danse could smell the stench of death and decay from the armor just as acutely as he could. He let out a noise of disgust. He then drew his pistols when the vines began to creep toward Diane but breathed a sigh of relief when Danse shot them. However he leveled his pistols again towards the place where he heard the growl. “I think we just pissed something off. Stay sharp.”  
With hands that shook, Diane raised Ennui's scope to the right lens of her t60 power armor helm. Slowly she turned as much as her waist would allow, finishing a sweep of the horizon the rest of the way by moving her legs just a tiny bit, grimacing at every hiss and clank issued by the actuators. Paladin Danse was right behind her, laser rifle at the ready. Diane sighed. "Jesus take the wheel. Gentlemen, we have a huge problem. A huge, angry scaly problem."  
"Deathclaw." Danse confirmed.  
"Oh it gets better." Diane tittered nervously. "It's got that Thorn we've been looking at. Please advise?"  
"A tactical retreat might be in order. We don't want to lead it back to the farmhouse."  
"We don't want it to hunt us. We might be okay, but Kirkland..."  
Hunter groaned. Deathclaws were the very last thing he wanted to deal with right now. “I’m less valuable than two Steelies,” he said, panting slightly. “I’m much less likely to be seen by the scaly bastard. I carry stealth boys with me wherever I go and that armor you wear can be heard for kilometers.” He turned to look at Danse and Diane. “Both of you retreat back to the farmhouse and I’ll lead it away.”  
"Kirkland, what you're doing is tantamount to suicide." Danse sounded incredulous. "But we don't have any more time to argue. " Turning to Diane he said "Let's move."   
Diane hesitated. "You said you had a girlfriend...?" She trailed off.  
Hunter scowled. He could easily call up M7-97's command subroutines and issue the shutdown code, but somehow he knew that Diane would not take kindly to that. Danni's earlier words came back to him. I knew your type, you'd want to fix everything and all that would end in was you cold on the floor... Maybe she had been right. He would always take on the most dangerous jobs but...maybe now was not the time for such heroic actions. "Fuck. Fine then, if you've got any better ideas.." he shook his head irritably and then turned to Diane. "Yeah I do."  
"Well I'll have to get you back to her in one piece." Diane took a deep breath. "I have an idea. A horribly dangerous idea. We get the thing's attention and lead it away from the farm. Then when it's distracted we take it down quick."  
She did a double take at Danse. Evidently she was equal parts confused and surprised at his lack of input. Was he assessing them? Diane spread her hands. "We can't let this thing roam around and spread that...Thorn. We have to kill and burn it."  
In spite of his irritation, Hunter smiled. "Danni might be very angry at me if I end up getting myself killed. I'd rather face an angry Deathclaw than an angry Danni." He had no better ideas save for leading it away himself and that would most likely end up getting him killed. "Burning it would be the best way of killing the plant spores. The closing thing I have to a flamer is a disassembled grenade launcher in my pack..I think it's gonna take a little more oomph than that." He looked at Danse, eyes narrowing slightly. "Well, Danse? Don't let us stop you from contributing."  
"We're sitting ducks out here." Diane complained. "Unless someone else has a brighter idea that deathclaw is going to have a nice dinner. " She scoffed. "Probably share it with her husband and kids."  
"Can you reassemble that launcher right here?" Danse asked. "If so we might not be able to at least use it to get the beast's attention."  
Hunter shrugged off his pack and dropped it to the ground. He began to pull out weapon components, assembling them with barely a pause and finally a completed grenade launcher rested in his hands. He opened the chamber and began to feed the individual grenades in. He stood up and made sure everything was ready to go before taking the safety off. "We get its attention and then what? Somehow I don't think that pretty suit of yours could hold up for very along when a Deathclaw is gnawing at it. If I could get a lucky shot off, I could get a grenade down that thing's gullet. BOOM, Deathclaw's nothing but glue."  
"Paladin?" Diane asked. Danse seemed to be weighing his options, or overthinking if you should ask Diane, who by now was clanking like a broken Giddyup Buttercup in her anxiety. They could be eaten or risk the deathclaw eating the helpless farmers. They could be smart and run or take a chance and get killed for their stupidity. "Our pretty suits might protect us from becoming deathclaw chow." Danse countered. "McKagan and I will draw its attention. Kirkland, you take the shot."  
Diane threw her hands up in outrage. "Whoa whoa whoa- what?"   
"There's no need to be afraid."  
"I-I'm not afraid...!" retrieving her pole hook Diane drove it into the ground then peered through her scope again. "Here she comes. Get ready."  
Hunter rolled his eyes. Their suits might be up to the task, but their bodies certainly weren’t. Granted, Danse’s endoskeleton was much more sturdy than Diane’s fragile human skeleton, and Hunter was even sturdier still, but even the two Synths couldn’t hold up indefinitely if a Deathclaw were chomping on them. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Danse.” He smirked a little at the obvious tension in Diane’s voice. “Diane,” he said, waiting until she was looking at him. “Focus on your target and remember to breathe; don’t lock up your muscles. Keep yourself loose.” He gave her a friendly smile before taking a deep breath himself and leveling his grenade launcher. “Let’s get this party started.”

Threat level Omega: Initiate combat protocols.

THREAT LEVEL OMEGA CONFIRMED.  
INITIATING COMBAT PROTOCOLS.  
SHUNTING ALL AVAILABLE POWER TO STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY AND COMBAT SUBPROCESSORS.  
REACTOR CORE NOMINAL  
INTERNAL CPU TEMPERATURE: 130°F  
STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY: 100%  
Diane scoffed at what she'd perceived as coddling. Behind her helmet the look she gave Danse could curdle fresh milk. Turning to Hunter she knew both men had faith in her and keeping her cool would keep them all alive. "Loosey goosey."She said "loosey goosey, I've got this. We've got this. " Shaking her arms and legs for emphasis (which must have looked absurd in her t60) she knelt down and took up her position with her sniper rifle. Paladin Danse stood nearby- Diane was used to him as her spotter but didn't seem to notice. "No matter what, stay together. Keep fire on the target. Let's hit it hard and fast. McKagan, you have a visual?"  
"Affirmative."  
"Take the shot."  
Taking a deep breath Diane squeezed the trigger. CRACK.

A blood curdling shriek confirmed impact. The ground beneath them shook so badly Diane had trouble reloading. A quarter ton of murder sprinted toward the trio, its mouth open. Vines burst from cracks in its scaly hide, throbbing. Its left eye was reduced to pulp, the vitreous humour and blood pouring from the empty socket. Once within range Danse loosed a volley of lasers, filling the air with red streaks and the stench of burning ozone. The beams scarcely seemed to faze the monster. Its cry was almost pitiful. It swung one if its namesakes at Danse, a glancing blow but enough to scratch the chestplate. With a grunt Danse pushed the beast, bashing it with the butt of his rifle. Sturdy as the armor was if he were to be grounded it was game over.  
"Danse!" Diane cried. Pulling the pole hook out of the ground she shouted. "Hey fuckface!" and lobbed the pole at the deathclaw bouncing it harmlessly off its arm. It turned its face toward her. She let out a fair imitation a roar as well as a human could. "Raaaagh!"   
..to which the deathclaw replied with its own deafening roar.  
"Uh-uh."   
The deathclaw charged at her. " Oh SHIT!"  
Hunter waited until the Deathclaw got close enough. His eyes narrowed at the state of the poor beast; not even a Deathclaw deserved this.

Lock target.  
TARGET LOCKED.  
CALCULATING TRAJECTORY

The deathclaw went for Diane with its mouth wide open. She froze- from fear or because she remembered Hunter's grenade launcher, it was hard to say. Hunter fired and the explosive projectile soared through the air and bounced off the ground and just barely glanced off the massive fangs, detonating a half-second later. Bringing up her arms just in time the grenade ripped the deathclaw apart sending splinters of bone and chunks of gore in all directions. Danse rushed to her side. "McKagan! Are you alright?"  
Lowering her arms Diane cried. "That was AWESOME!" Then she caught sight of her unit's arms. "Crap. No way Ingram's gonna let me on the Prydwen like this. " Still she gave Hunter a double thumbs up. "Nice."  
Danse turned to Hunter. "Outstanding, Kirkland. " Examining the remains of the deathclaw he asked "Do you think it's possible to bring back a specimen or two for our scribes?"  
Hunter looked at Diane. “Mind if I borrow your sticker and Danse, I’m gonna need your laser rifle"  
Diane retrieved the pole hook and handed it over with a flourish. Danse did likewise with his rifle though decidedly less cartoonishly.Hunter frowned as he approached the dead Deathclaw, giving it a firm prod with the pole hook, wanting to make absolutely it was dead. The deathclaw was quite dead. Bereft of life it rests in peace. It is an ex deathclaw. The Thorn was still alive, though barely.   
Hunter brought the sharp end of the pole hook down on a barely moving vine, severing it with almost unwarranted venom. “That’s for Angie.” he spat. After he was satisfied that the piece was truly dead, he bent down and picked it up, shoving it into a pocket. “Right, we have a specimen. Now to take care of this.” He bent down and promptly disassembled Danse’s laser rifle, working around with the internal components and the power cell, reassembling it and reactivating it. “In the absence of a flamer, you can use a laser rifle to do much the same thing. Modulating the beam increases the intensity without completely melting the firing chamber. Downside is the power cell depletes that much faster and tends to detonate after too much use.” He fired a bright red beam of energy at the dead Deathclaw, setting the entire corpse alight. He watched the body burn for a few minutes before ejecting the smoking power cell and tossing it away where it promptly exploded with a loud pop. He restored Danse’s rifle to its original functionality and handed both the rifle and pole hook back to their respective owners.  
"I've never seen anyone disassemble a laser rifle so quickly. " Danse said. His helm was off and his hair plastered to his forehead with sweat. Likewise Diane removed her helm, exhaling through the nostrils to dislodge the vagrant locks that tickled her face. She exchanged looks with Danse, her eyes glittering with triumph. The armored figures watched Hunter expertly handle the weapon. Diane let out a 'huh!' of pleasant surprise then wrinkled her nose at the stench of burning flesh.   
"Let's head back to the police station." said Danse. "I have to prepare a report for the Elder. Plus I think we've all deserved a rest after that."  
Hunter smiled slightly. “Muscle memory. I try and familiarize myself with all sorts of weapons from pipe weapons to prefab weapons. Disassembling them and reassembling them until I get it right with almost no mistakes is how I get familiar with those weapons. The modifications I made to your laser rifle were actually the result of improperly reassembling one awhile back. Damn near set my whole head on fire. Realized that it could be utilized safely if I could figure how to control the thermal reaction in the firing chamber. Heh..melted a fair few rifles and got a fair few burns before I got it right.” He disassembled his grenade launcher and set the components aside, pulling out his pistols and ejecting the magazines, replacing them with full clips. He then placed the grenade launcher components back in his duffel bag along with the ejected clips and shouldered his bag. “Right; let’s git.”  
Donning their helmets again the tin cans clanked along back to Cambridge. "I don't think I've ever met a civilian with such..thorough knowledge." Danse commented, probably sounding more suspicious than he intended.   
"We can't stop everyone from tinkering. I'm glad he's on our side." Diane said, humming in time to her clank-clank-clank. "Should be all clear all the way back to base. Pip boy's not picking up any hostiles."  
"Stay sharp anyway."  
Hunter smirked to himself. If you only knew, he thought. He was again surprised to feel that desire to be human. He followed the two Steelies back to their basecamp, keeping his eyes and ears out for any potential hostiles, but it was unnecessary; Diane’s Pip-Boy was accurate. The hike back to Cambridge was much easier.Finally they arrived at the Cambridge police station and he nodded respectfully at the milling Steelies that looked at him. The knights and scribes milling about greeted Danse and Diane. One bright eyed young woman beamed at the sight of the pair. "Welcome back, sir. McKagan."  
Turning to Diane and Hunter Danse said "Kirkland I think I've seen enough to know that you'd be an asset to the Brotherhood of Steel. The question is, are you prepared to join? To uphold all the Brotherhood's ideals."  
WARNING: BROTHERHOOD OF STEEL HOLDOUT.  
BROTHERHOOD OF STEEL IS A THREAT TO THE INSTITUTE.  
CAPTURE OF HK UNIT WILL RESULT IN IMMEDIATE REACTOR CORE MELTDOWN.

Hunter had to resist rolling his eyes at what his HUD was telling him; he already knew the Brotherhood were enemies of the Institute, yet he himself didn’t much care for the Institute now that he had severed his connection to the Institute network. The only problem was that a Courser could be sent out to recover him. His thoughts went back to X6. He looked over in surprise when Danse made him the offer of joining the Brotherhood. “Uhh..” was all he said, clearly shocked. “Not that I don’t appreciate it, but this is kind of sudden. I’d have to give it some thought. I don’t mind telling you, Danse, that a lot of your vaunted ideals I find absolutely disgusting, but you and Diane are honorable people. Like I said, I’ll give it some thought.”  
"Um. I thought you approached with the intention of joining..." Diane said lamely. At Hunter's words the brothers and sisters of steel paused to stare at him. Some looked aghast. Some glared. Danse on the other hand was unmoved. His helmet off one could clearly see his distaste. "Give it more thought if you must but if that is how you truly feel then I believe we are done here."  
"Whoa, hold up." exiting her armor Diane stepped between the two men. "Hunter, can I talk to you for a second? Alone? Uh, but at least hand that specimen over to Haylen?" She jerked a thumb to the young woman speaking in hushed tones to Danse, who was clearly still indignant.  
Hunter shrugged at the collective reaction of the assembled Steelies. "Wow it's almost as if everyone doesn't believe the same thing as you, imagine that," he said, voice laden with sarcasm. "Right, do you have some sort of sealed container you can put this thing in? It's dead now but who the fuck knows what its capable of. The last thing we need is another Angie." He looked around for anything of the sort and found an empty Nuka-Cola bottle. He went to pick it up and pulled the dead Thorn specimen from his pocket and dropped it in. "Here you go. Just...try not to touch it at all if you can avoid it," he said to Haylen, handing the bottle to her. He gave Danse one last look before exiting the police station, duffle bag on his back and everything ready to go.  
"Quit wastin' your time, McKagan." Called out a thickset man with a bald head. "He's not one of us." Haylen accepted the bottle, trying to form words but no sound came out. Danse turned away. "Let him go."


	16. The Devil's Due

"Cool it, Rhys." Diane shot back and ran after Hunter. "Hunter! Wait. I know how you feel but these guys, they can do the most good for the Commonwealth." She sighed impatiently "I don't even like the Commonwealth. I don't like their ugly architecture, I don't like their 'pahk the cah in the yahd' voices and I hate their lack of Mexican food. But they need help. It's a fucking mess and the Institute is only making it worse. If we all band together we can make a huge difference. We just have to...put aside everything else and focus. This Thorn, the Institute. Why let all the petty shit get in the way?"  
Hunter rolled his eyes at the remarks as he left the station and exited the courtyard. He continued walking even as Diane came after him, but he turned and jerked his head signaling her to follow him. He listened to her talk while they walked out of the city, clear away from the Brotherhood camp. He couldn't help smirking at the things she hated about the Commonwealth. He sighed and finally turned towards her.  
"Diane...I like you. I really do. You're a sweetheart and a damned good shot..but you have no idea what petty shit even means. All those men and women in there believe that the Commonwealth can be saved but Ghouls, Synths, Super Mutants, and the like have to go. What gives them the right to say that when some ghouls and some Muties want to live? And what about Synths? What gives ANY of you the right to say they don't have any right to exist?"  
Diane tagged along, adjusting her glasses and scowling. "Petty shit means shutting up and working with who you don't agree with for a greater good, Hunter! Don't 'sweetheart' me, I've seen shit that'd curl your hair. "Rubbing her eyes she added "Synths shouldn't exist but they fucking do. We need to better understand the ones that are human. I know saying that will have my ass in a sling but I...I have synth and ghoul friends I trust with my life. That I love like anyone you love that you can't do without-"  
He drew breath to continue but a deafening roar made him break off and whirl around. "Oh shit," he said. A massive Deathclaw was bounding towards them, its long fangs gleaming in the dim light. Hunter let his duffle bag fall from his shoulders. Diane froze. In trying to chase Hunter and change his mind she'd left the police station without anything but her side arm. He knew that one swipe of its massive claw would rip Diane in half.  
"Fuck!" Battering her Pip boy she tried to broadcast "MAYDAY MAYDAY Deathclaw inbound! DEATHCLAW INBOUND EAST OF CAMBRIDGE I REPEAT DE-" she was interrupted as Hunter pushed her violently away. The ground came up to slap her and she let out a grunt. She looked up just in time to see the deathclaw snatch up Hunter. She screamed, a raw cry of terror. The Pip Boy buzzed.  
"MCKAGAN! " Danse's voice was frantic.  
"I-it's got him! Oh _god!_ " She sobbed and screamed again. Hunter fumbled with a grenade from his duffel bag and looked up as the thing drew close. The Deathclaw seized Hunter in its crushing grip and lifted him up and roared in his face.  
The last Diane saw of Hunter that day was the colossal beast tilting him up and biting him in half, tearing the lower half of his body away with a great crunch, sending blood and bits of muscle flying everywhere. The beast tossed the bottom half of Hunter's body away.  
"RUN! Get up and RUN!" Danse ordered. Scrambling to her feet Diane ran, her legs working like hard driven pistons.  
The knights poured from the base, shouting orders. Diane ran past them and dropped to her knees on the police station floor. Outside miniguns screamed. Haylen was saying something to her but she did not hear it. She only sat there on her hands and knees, shaking all over.  
The Knights firing the miniguns did wound the creature, but that made it even angrier. It charged at the nearest suit of Power Armor and swatted the unfortunate Knight to the ground, repeatedly hammering on suit of armor with its massive claws. The only thing that saved that Knight was the continued screaming of minigun bullets which made the beast turn and charge at another couple of Knights, howling with anger. The Alpha was mere feet away from the Knights when its midsection exploded outward, showering the two in bits of blood, bone, and gore. One last gurgling roar from the Alpha and it slumped to the ground, limp and most importantly dead.  
Rhys scrambled out the door rifle in hand. "Nice job." He scowled.  
"Hey, Rhys. Go fuck yourself." Diane spat.  
"McKagan!" Haylen looked between the two, still gently patting Diane on the back.  
"Don't worry, Haylen. This one doesn't like me. If we could have gotten Hunter to stay..."  
"He's not one of us, you heard what he said. Waste of our time." Rhys threw a glance over his shoulder.  
"How can you say something so disrespectful!?" Haylen demanded. "Here." Helping Diane to her feet she said "Let me get you some water."  
The explosion rocked the building. Shaking off Haylen Diane started out the door dragging her feet like slogging through thick mud. The knights were clearing out, shaking their heads and tsk'ing over Hunter. Diane started at a soft hand on her shoulder. She turned to see Danse.  
"I'm sorry you had to witness that, McKagan." he truly looked it.  
"Yeah." Diane said dully. "I'm going to...take something of his to send to his girlfriend. We owe him that much. "

Diane cautiously approached the dead deathclaw seeking whatever remained of Hunter. She didn't know what she could send. Perhaps a search of his pockets might yield something that would be meaningful to his lover. Whatever hadn't been destroyed she considered repurposing but chastised herself for her looting instinct. She decided whatever was left would be interred with his remains. Then the beast began to move and her mouth dropped open like a trap door. Instinctively she took a few steps backward only for the metallic skeleton crawl toward her. "Synth...! You're-"  
The dead Deathclaw was lying on its stomach, head cocked at an odd angle. The head suddenly began to move. It shifted from side to side every now and again. Suddenly, impossibly, its jaws opened and an arm came out of it, clawing at the ground and pulling. Another arm came out, but this arm was oddly...metallic. The fingers on said arm ended in what looked like metallic fingernails. Both hands finally found purchase in the dry dirt and heaved. A bloody figure pulled itself out of the Deathclaw's mouth and began to crawl weakly towards Diane. The majority of his skin had been blown off, leaving half his face covered in bloody skin and the other half was revealed to be metal. One eye was a bright grey but the other gleamed red. His mouth still had half a set of lips while the other side was revealed to be just teeth. It almost looked like a skull.

WARNING: STRUCTU-..GRITY 1%  
PRIMA-PRIMARY SYS........INERTIAL DAMPENERS INOPERATIVE  
21#!#$@$112$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!asddkhaskfTTEMPTING TO REROUTE DAMAGED NEURAL CIRCUITS  
CRITICAL SYSTEM FAILURE  
SHUTDOWN IMMINENT

What was left of Hunter finally stopped when he reached Diane. "Did..." his voice sounded like Hunter except it had a robotic timbre to it and it was lowering in pitch with every word he spoke. "Did...we win? I think...I'll go to sleep now.." Hunter froze where he lay, his red eye flickering and going dark.

SYSTEM SHUTTING DOWN  
Then the light went out of its eyes. Clutching at her throat Diane sat down in the dust. "The whole time...?"  
>Restart  
>  
>  
>  
>NEURAL PATHWAYS DAMAGED  
>ATTEMPTING TO REROUTE  
>RELAY FAILURES BYPASSED  
>CPU ONLINE  
>INITIATING SYSTEM DIAGNOSTIC.

Diane sat in the mess hall brooding over an untouched plate. Elder Maxson had commended her for the retrieval of a synth specimen, and one so advanced to boot. He'd preached the necessity of understanding its workings and that they must remain vigilant for anyone could be a synth. All they'd discovered was that on the outside synths appeared human...unless they were deceased. She was also commended for her retrieval of the Thorn specimen even though it was now looking like an Institute plot. On the other hand her previous conduct had Diane placed on notice. Upon discovering that Hunter was a synth Rhys had some choice words.  
She hadn't known Hunter long but her thoughts drifted to a known synth- the detective from Diamond City. The thought of him in pieces tore at her heart until she could take no more and she drove her small fist into Rhys' nose. He bled copiously but she'd hurt herself more than him. Her hand still throbbed. There was still the Thorn to contend with and while the eggheads fussed over this specimen and that specimen time was not on their side. Perhaps she thought she could find the water treatment plant and offer Danni the help of the Minutemen. But how to smooth down the brass? She couldn't please everyone. 

Rising, Diane climbed the stairs and forced herself to look upon the remains of the synth called Hunter. "You're a machine...but you knew what love is..." She said softly .Eyes flicking about, Diane scanned the immediate area. The scribes had retired for the day, having taken a late dinner then decided the synth could wait until tomorrow. Hunter's dark eye began to flicker red and his head moved slightly. His fingers twitched and slowly closed into a fist. Leaning over the dismantled machine she whispered.  
"Hunter...? You asshole, are you alive?"  
The flickering eye suddenly gleamed red as his internal systems reactivated. He blinked, his one remaining set of eyelids working like normal while the other eye didn't blink at all. He looked around.  
"Crap.." he muttered, unaware that Diane was standing just outside. He had been captured. "Oh no...no no no.."  
"WARNING: SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE HAS BEEN INITIATED  
REACTOR CORE OVERLOAD IN 20 SECONDS." said Hunter in his default voice, a deep and monotone menacing growl.

Override self destruct command: HK unit defense capabilities are still functional

COMMAND OVERRIDE ACCEPTED: SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE ABORTED.

"Ohhh SHI-" Clapping her hands over her mouth Diane sighed as the sequence fizzled out.  
He breathed a sigh of relief. Had his reactor core overloaded, the Prydwen and everyone on it would have been destroyed. "Right, I'm not going to explode...now how the fuck am I going to get out of here?" he mused out loud.  
"You're not. Not without help, anyway."  
Hunter turned his head towards her and smiled. Well, half of his face did at any rate. "Diane.." he grasped her hand with the one that actually had skin. "Goddamn it's good to see you. Yeah..I'm still alive. Barely, at any rate. I can't feel my legs..I hope you didn't dispose of those."   
She chuckled nervously "No but the scribes took you apart to see what makes you tick. Well this is a setback we didn't need. "  
He let out a deep sigh. "I should have told you sooner...hell I was about to tell you outside of Cambridge before that Deathclaw attacked." He frowned as he remembered. "Diane...did we lose anyone?" Drumming her fingers on the table she said  
"Didn't lose a single man. Thanks to you. Though they thank me instead for the heads up. "  
Diane sighed and removing her glasses polished the lenses on her sleeve before putting them back on. "I didn't need to know. It wouldn't have helped anything but here it is. I'm just sorry it had to happen this way. But hopefully we can keep you alive. In pieces but talking you could still be useful." Laying her head on the table surface she groaned. "What are we going to do? I can't set foot off the Prydwen thanks to some bullshit. At this rate the Elder will never listen to me."  
Hunter looked at her. One side of his face was frowning heavily, the other was simply staring with that red robotic eye. “Tell me they didn’t copy my memory chip or my reactor core. That I can’t allow. I may not be a part of the Institute anymore but Brotherhood technology augmented by my reactor technology or combat algorithms would be extremely dangerous to the ENTIRE Wasteland.” He put his humanoid hand on her shoulder. “I’m sorry I put you through this. I was sincere when I told Danse I’d consider his offer. It was very...kind of him. And you’ve been nothing but kind to me even now that you know what I am. Just...promise me something.” He made sure she was looking at him before continuing. Diane's jaw clenched.  
"They haven't figured anything out as far as I know they're sure as hell not going to tell me. I have been hearing rumors that it's way more complicated than they initially thought- could take them months to figure you out. You didn't have to share your opinion with the entire room..."  
“If the Brotherhood plans on cannibalizing my technology, pull out my reactor core and memory chip. I want Danni to have my memory chip because it’s everything I am. My personality, my likes and dislikes, my emotions, everything that makes me me is on that chip. If you can get the core out of here safely, please do. It has a maximum lifespan of 120 years of continuous operation before needing to be regenerated. It can be used for different things, most importantly a power source. Otherwise I want you to make sure it’s destroyed. Make damn sure you’re at a safe distance before detonating the core. It has a blast radius of about five miles and if you’re any closer than that, you’re not likely to survive. ”  
She frowned deeply at his disassembled form, her brow wrinkling in deep furrows. " I'm surprised they haven't poked around in your guts and blown us all to Kingdom Come already." Blowing air out of the corner of her mouth she rolled her eyes upward." Don't worry I'll get Danni your chip. The likely scavenge the core to power the Prydwen or something else. I just wish I knew what Danse and the others were up to. If my hunch is correct they're going to look for that water plant you talked about and if you are right they're walking into a trap."  
Hunter sighed in partial relief. If the Scribes had gone poking around inside of him, they would have activated the emergency destruct sequences and annihilated themselves. He frowned at her when she said they’d use his reactor to power the Prydwen. “Diane..I can’t let them use any part of me. ANY part. Even my endoskeleton alone would give them dangerous advantages.” He sat up, which was rather difficult when one had no backside. He balanced himself on his hands. “We can’t let them go in there; they’d be walking into a slaughter and Danni would be right in the middle of it.” The mental image of Danni on her knees with a gun to her head made his already critical internal temperature rise again. 

WARNING: INTERNAL TEMPERATURE APPROACHING MAXIMUM TOLERANCE.

“First things first, Diane. I need to you help me. My heat sinks were clogged when that damned Deathclaw had me for a snack and I can’t vent the heat generated from my internal circuitry. I need you to get a scalpel or a knife as quick as you can.”  
Picking her head up off the table Diane listened intently. She nodded. Searching instrument trays she picked up a small surgical scalpel. "Will this do? You have to direct me I've never done anything like this before."

"Perfect," he said, easing himself back down on the table he had been placed upon. He stripped out of the remains of his shirt and cast it aside. "That was my favorite fucking shirt, too," he complained. His chest was pockmarked with shrapnel from the fragmentation grenade he had used to blast his way out of the Deathclaw. He instructed her to put the scalpel blade down right below the hollow at the base of his throat and make a cut all the way down to where his body had been torn apart Blood began to run down his chest toward the ragged rip at his waist where he had been forcibly dismembered. He then had her make horizontal cuts along the top of his pectoral muscles. When that was done, he pulled the flaps of skin aside, revealing a metallic chest with a pulsing blue light contained behind a sheet of transparent metal in the very middle. On either side of the light were two vent-like objects that looked caked with the blood and gore from the Deathclaw.  
Diane tried to distract herself from the fact that a dismantled robot was talking to her and basically telling her to dissect him like a frog or a fetal pig for extra credit. She remembered him whole instead- he wasn't a bad looking fellow, with keen grey eyes and a nice build. His lady love was lucky to have him. Taking a deep breath she secured the scalpel in her right hand and cut a long path from above his sternum to the empty space. She pressed her lips together as he pulled his own chest open.  
"Let me do this part; you'll burn yourself otherwise." He pried out the two vents which were slightly smoking and caked with charred meat. Visible heat waves emanated from the vent ports and the room began to noticeably warm up some. It was like some horror movie. Sure, after awakening from cryostasis into a blasted wasteland where she could kill people for shits and giggles and this was what disturbed her. She offered the scalpel to him, tugging at her collar in the heat, watching him work in morbid fascination.   
"Might get a little toasty in here while the excess heat from my body is vented." He began to scrape the remains of Deathclaw from his heat sinks with his metallic fingernail. "Once I've gotten most of this crap out then lets soak them in water for a few minutes."  
"Water." She repeated and glanced about the room. Proctor Quinlan seldom left his quarters. Even his pet cat was absent. She knew he was consulting Proctor Ingram and Proctor Teagan. It would take all manner of resources to study their synth captive. Atop the desk she found two cans of purified water. Returning to Hunter she said "Will this do? Do I remove something or pour?"  
Hunter was still coming to terms with how nice she was being to him. He tapped the cleaned heat sinks against the examination table he was lying on, dislodging the last of the detritus from the device.  
“Just pour the water on the sinks and that should do the trick.” He looked towards the doorway. “You won’t get in trouble for talking to me, will you? That’s the absolute last thing I want.” He frowned slightly as the blue light in his chest turned yellow and began to pulse faster. His comment brought Diane back to her predicament. She tittered as though they'd been casually flirting. "Oh absolutely in trouble, branded a traitor. I'm risking everything." She laughed freely as she dared and flushed out the heat sinks with the water. 

DANGER: REACTOR CORE UNSTABLE  
MAINTENANCE REQUIRED  
INITIATING REACTOR DECOUPLING SEQUENCE

Several loud hisses and clicks were heard as Hunter’s core disengaged from his systems. He pressed a button on his sternum and his entire chest cavity opened in half, the pulsing yellow core raising up slightly from its cradle.  
“Diane, listen to me very carefully. My reactor core is extremely unstable right now. I’ll talk you through attempting to repair it but I won’t be able to take over once you take it out. Once my primary power core is removed, I’ll be running on emergency power only and everything except my speech shuts down. Do EXACTLY what I tell you when I tell you. Now, this last bit is extremely important: if the core starts to pulse red and beep rapidly, you’ll have exactly sixty seconds to get the core off the Prydwen. You’ll be safe up here but whatever’s down below is going up.”  
Then her gaze fell upon the reactor core and her face went white. Could she run that fast to dispose of the core? What if someone stopped her? If they were stupid enough to question her now they'd be damning themselves to a hilariously ironic death. The way up and out seemed like miles now but surely a straight shot to the flight deck she could pitch the core over the side and let it fall into the ocean to detonate harmlessly in the water below. She could also lie her face off about that she heard the core beeping and disposed of it before it could cause harm. "I'm ready when you are."  
Hunter scowled. "I'm so glad I can amuse you," he said, grumpily. After all, she wasn't lying on a table missing her entire lower half and worried for her life. Rolling his eyes, he laid back on the exam table and made sure his head was turned toward her so he could watch what she was doing; after the core was removed, he wouldn't move again until it was reinserted. "Okay, go ahead."  
"I'm not amused I'm terrified. Sorry it's hard to tell." Dangling her fingers over the core she waited for him to get into position. Mentally she counted to three then removed the core.  
####ALERT####  
REACTOR CORE: OFFLINE  
MOBILITY SERVOS: OFFLINE  
COMBAT PROTOCOLS: OFFLINE  
HOMING BEACON: OFFLINE  
NAVIGATIONAL SUBSYSTEMS: OFFLINE  
ALL NONESSENTIAL SYSTEMS: OFFLINE

Activate emergency backup systems.

EMERGENCY BACKUP SYSTEMS ONLINE  
SWITCHING TO CONVENTIONAL BATTERIES  
ESTIMATED TIME TO POWER FAILURE: TEN MINUTES

Hunter completely froze when she removed the power core. His body stopped venting heat, the lights inside of his chest cavity slowly died, and the red glow of his exposed eye dimmed significantly.   
"Alright, here's what you need to do. Take this slow and steady, Diane. I have completely faith in you." His voice came out with a robotic timbre to it even though his jaw had not moved. He began to tell her, slowly and clearly, how to repair the reactor core. He almost laughed at the realization that one of the inner coils of the core had been knocked loose when he had nearly blown himself to hell trying to kill the Deathclaw.  
"There's a uranium coil inside of the reactor that came loose. Thankfully, you don't need to disassemble the entire thing to fix it. Twist the outside cover a little bit until you hear a loud click. After that, all we can do is wait."  
It occurred to Diane she held death in her hand. Handling the core as gently as an egg she licked her lips and listened intently. With both hands she began to twist the cover. Slowly. Slowly. She closed her eyes thinking something horribly wrong was about to occur. -Click- Diane let out one long breath. "Okay...now what..."  
The core did nothing for a few moments. The yellow glow inside of it slowly faded back to blue and it began to thrum at a regular pace. Hunter let out a sigh of relief. "Now reinsert the core back into its housing in my chest and twist it to lock it in place."  
Slowly Diane opened her eyes and set the core back in the housing giving it a good twist. "There we go." she murmured. "Too bad we can't get you a new body."  
Someone cleared their throat behind her. Diane froze. "Having a pleasant conversation?" came the distinctive nasal disapproving tone.


	17. No Rest For The Wicked

_God, Buddha- ...Satan. Please let me think of a good lie. Buddha doesn't choose sides! Damn. Fine, then I throw my lot in with Lucifer._ Before she could answer though Proctor Quinlan asked "What are you doing in here? That synth is under observation and if Knight Captain Cade's reports are true, so are you."  
Diane turned and said in a voice that she proudly noticed did not stammer or break. "I think I just saved everyone onboard." _Show a little gratitude, gramps._  
Quinlan's shrewd eyes narrowed. "What are you talking about?" Crossing the room he glanced over the ruined synth. He was so close his shoulder kept bumping Diane's she retreated a bit with a brief scowl. "What have you done?" demanded the proctor and while he was distracted Diane caught Hunter's gaze and put a finger to her lips. "H-it's reactor core was unstable. I fixed it."  
Hunter was about to breathe a sigh of relief, but that surprisingly annoying voice stopped him from making any movement or sound. He found he didn’t much care for the way the man was talking to Diane. He had to resist clenching his fists. They were going to take his core and CPU, were they? Still he remained silent and still, the picture of a machine waiting for a command. If he reacted out of anger, it could put him and Diane in jeopardy. He kept his eyes fixed on one spot. He absolutely could not allow them to get their hands on his processor or his core. He tried to think of ways to damage his core without making it self-destruct. He decided that if worst came to worst, he’d wipe his memory core and scramble his processor. He felt a pang in his stomach at the thought of it all. There wouldn’t be anything left of him after that and..Danni wouldn’t have anything left of him.  
The gaunt little man's eyebrows went up. "Tampering with a project, McKagan, and I was beginning to think you had sense. Now get out or I'll have you on hull scraping duty. "  
"What are you going to do with the synth?"  
Proctor Quinlan did not look up. "Proctor Ingram will have the core and I will decode the processor. There must be some valuable information about the Institute."  
Diane gestured to Hunter. "Or maybe just ask him."  
This time Quinlan stared at Diane. "Ask? You do not ASK a machine, you give it commands. Have you gone mad?"  
REACTOR CORE ONLINE  
FULL POWER RESTORED  
Reconfigure vocal processor to default parameters.  
RESTORING ORIGINAL VOICE PATTERN  
Turning back to the exam table Quinlan added "The rest of it will be scrapped." When Diane did not budge he stared at her over the rims of his round glasses. "Does 'get out' mean something else where you come from?"  
"You know his memory is probably encrypted. One slip and you'll get nothing. Why not just talk? Not like he can do anything anymore." she said evenly. Closing the gap between them Diane met him his gaze. Neither of them flinched. Finally Quinlan said "You seem to have a rapport with this...thing. The Elder wishes this abomination to be dismantled and studied. If you can convince him otherwise..."  
The more he considered the more Quinlan seemed to like the idea.  
"I'll be right back." Diane said lightly and turned to leave.  
To the synth, or to himself, Quinlan muttered. "I hope it's worth the trouble."  
From the main deck to the flight deck Diane's head spun with questions. She saw Haylen and stopped to apologize for punching Rhys. She knew she'd be in for a hell of a lecture from Danse when next they met and she was about to walk into another one with Elder Stoic McBuzzkill. What a _wonderful_ day this was turning out to be. She stood at attention as the Elder reamed her for assaulting one of her sworn brothers, for tampering with a secret project (good news certainly travels fast) and thanked for saving her unit. Then Diane laid her offer on the table. She was dedicated to the Brotherhood's cause, believed them to be the Commonwealth's best hope. She was willing to lay her life on the line, which was why she would rather parley with the synth rather than potentially destroy its precious secrets. Biding her time she now had all the cards in her hand. Surplus food and clean water would be given willingly to the Brotherhood as well as any arms that could be spared in exchange for protecting the settlements. Any power armor frames will be turned over to Proctor Ingram. In addition, should the synth go rogue, Diane would take full responsibility. Right now though, seeking the druids was paramount. Elder Maxson told her that the recon team found no one in the enclave the synth told Danse about. Danse however trusted Diane enough to know it wasn't an Institute trap. They'd left. A veritable exodus.  
Diane's face was white as she returned to Proctor Quinlan's quarters. The proctor himself busied himself with technical documents, pausing every now and then to stare at the synth. "We have a huge problem." She announced.  
Hunter was still frozen on the table, having recorded the entire conversation between Diane and Quinlan. He had to make a supreme effort not to react to the things Quinlan was saying. Elder Maxson wanted him dismantled, did he? Biggest surprise since Jesus Himself rose from the dead, thought Hunter savagely. Hunter put himself on power save mode when Diane left, only reactivating himself when she returned.  
"Good news- recon squad Gladius has burned the water treatment plant. Bad news? " Diane paused. "They didn't find a damn thing. No druids, not even bodies. What does this mean?" Quinlan gave her an odd look but Diane ignored him, approaching Hunter instead.  
That’s it, thought Hunter angrily. Enough of this helpless machine act.

Restore voice pattern HunterKirkland001.

REMODULATING VOCAL PROCESSOR  
PROCESSOR REMODULATED  
VOICE PROFILE HUNTERKIRKLAND001 READY

Hunter sat up, supporting himself on his hands. “They didn’t find ANY bodies? What about Danni, did you see any sign of her?”  
"My god in heaven!" Quinlan exclaimed as Hunter spoke. Diane shushed him. "No bodies. Everyone is gone. " Taking a deep breath she rounded on Quinlan. "Proctor, I need to borrow Hunter-"  
"Now just a moment-" Quinlan sputtered.  
"You have a problem you can take it up with the Elder. Hunter, you down for a road trip?"  
“You bet your ass I am!” Hunter said, a grin curling up the left side of his mouth. His red eye seemed to gleam brighter. “Won’t be doing a lot of walking and I’d prefer to have my pistols if you can manage it. Also you’re gonna have to carry me but you might want to do that in power armor.” He turned to look at the Proctor. “As for you, I’m leaving this ship to go save my girl and maybe stop a genocide. If you got a problem with it, you can kiss my titanium polyalloy coated ass. If I were you, I’d stay in my seat and not get in our way.” Hunter retrieved his clean heat sinks and reinserted them in the proper ports. 

Reinitialize heat sinks.

HEAT SINKS REINITIALIZED  
INTERNAL TEMPERATURE WITHIN SAFETY LIMITS  
"Cool. I'll get my power armor and my toothbrush." Diane said cheerily the turned to saunter off.  
"J-just a moment!" Quinlan said. Diane turned to him with an airy 'hmm?'  
"Go...see Proctor Teagan about a flamer."  
Diane gave him a thumbs up. 

With Teagan and Ingram's help, Diane suited up in her power armor. The rest of Hunter's parts were carefully packed in the biggest duffel bag they could scrounge up and his upper torso was secured to Diane's back with a series ropes. "This is the weirdest piggy back ride I've ever given." She said as she took a few steps to show she could handle the rig.  
"Now if you need to exit your armor, " Ingram was saying "just slip out of the rig before you open her up." She squinted at Hunter. "Good god that thing's even more hideous up close. "  
"He can hear you, you know." Diane sighed.


	18. All The King's Horses...

Upon hearing the plan, he was definitely not liking the fact he was to be trussed up like a Christmas goose on Diane’s back. However, he found it to be quite the welcome change to lying on Quinlan’s exam table awaiting who knows what fate. Hunter wobbled a little bit while they secured his upper torso into the harness and silently cheered when they retrieved his lower half; it looked to be in fairly good condition aside from the fact the Deathclaw had bitten right through it. He looked at Ingram when she commented.  
“At least my legs can be rebuilt,” he said, somewhat smugly.  
"Hunter!" Diane cried, embarrassed. "That was uncalled for. Ugh. Let's just go. I guess Danse is still at Cambridge. I think we should ask him what's going on. Also it's Lecture Diane Day and he's next on my list. If you want a go you better do it now. "  
"What? She started it!," protested Hunter as they left the flight deck interior and stepped out onto the docks.  
The sight of synth and knight drew more than a few stares. It didn't help when Diane began to high step and sing tunelessly as she made her way to a vertibird that could take them to Cambridge. "Ya'll behave, alright?" she waved at her audience and boarded.  
Throughout the trip though she was silent. "Why do I get the distinct feeling we are in deep shit?"  
The finally entered the vertibird where Hunter began to play the recording of Someone To Watch Over Me by Ella Fitzgerald, broadcasting it through his vocal processor. He found the song made him think of Danni, and he smiled as the song played. He turned his head when Diane spoke and smiled a little ruefully. "Well...things rarely turn out the way we expect, but...we're gonna save the world."  
"Oh I love this song!" Diane exclaimed, her electronic filtered voice somewhat audible over the vertibird's blades. They touched down on the roof of the decrepit police station and with care Diane disembarked checking to be sure Hunter was still secure on her back.  
"Honey, I'm home!" She announced.  
Paladin Danse was leaning over his terminal and made no acknowledgement of their presence. Diane shifted uncomfortably.  
"It's been a weird couple of days, believe me. But you need to tell us what you found at the water treatment plant."  
Danse faced her now, scowling in a way that almost made him unattractive. "I'm willing to overlook your insubordination for now to attend to urgent matters."  
He turned back to the terminal. "According to Scribe Neriah's official report the Thorn you found isn't in any of our plant catalogs. It could be a hybrid of some kind but its behavior is like nothing anyone has ever seen or heard of. It's a parasitic species as we've seen. But what's more is it infects irradiated organic life , tries to cleanse it. The problem is it takes nutrients from its host to do so. When the Thorn is in danger it sends out some sort of pheromone to attract other infected. "  
Diane pondered for a long moment. "Cleansing the Commonwealth. They need fuel to spread the Thorn. The water treatment facility was abandoned. That means..."  
"That means they've gone to spread the Thorn to everyone they find." Danse finished for her.  
Hunter remained largely silent while Danse and Diane talked. He knew that Danse probably felt about him the same way that Proctor Quinlan, Rhys, and all the other Steelies did. However he looked around as far as he could when he mentioned that the Thorn tried to cleanse irradiated life. "Goodneighbor is on their list of places to cleanse, Danni said they would go there.." He wriggled slightly in his harness. "In order to stop this cult, we're going to need the Brotherhood behind us...the two of us won't be able to do it alone. Could you please turn around so I can talk to Danse?"  
If they could see her face, Danse would have leapt to catch Diane in an impending faint. She was grateful for her helmet. If they mollycoddled her now she would scream. "Goodneighbor..." she breathed, then her voice cracking like glass. "...Kent...Daisy...Hancock..."  
Danse's face, which had been impassive, shifted from disgust to pity. He didn't like ghouls. Irradiated freaks. But Diane had befriended some long before she swore herself to steel. Even they didn't deserve this fate. She turned away and Danse started to maneuver to face her when he realized the synth wanted to speak with him. Flicking his eyes toward Hunter he said "What is it?" resting a hand on Diane's shoulder. Would that they were out of armor.  
"Paladin," he said, careful to look Danse in the face. "I know you don't like Synths. I know you believe we have no right to exist, and maybe you're right; maybe we don't. But right now, I need you to put all of your hatred and preconceptions aside. We both have a common enemy: this cult. They will wash over this world like a flood until there's absolutely nothing left." He told the Paladin what he knew about the Thorn, about the Vault where he believed it had originated from and about Oasis in the Capital Wasteland, and everything he and Danni had discussed about the Thorn and the cult.  
"I'm begging you now, Paladin, to plead our case before Elder Maxson, because without the Brotherhood, the Commonwealth and everywhere else is doomed. I was created by the Institute, your known enemy, but Diane here is my friend and I don't turn my back on my friends. Without the Brotherhood of Steel, we will fail and the world will die a second time." He fell silent. He wasn't programmed for eloquence, but he hoped beyond hope that Danse and the rest of Recon Squad Gladius, and even the entire Brotherhood itself, would support them.  
Danse's stern gaze softened as he listened to the synth's plea. He did not interrupt. When Hunter was finished Danse took a long deep breath. "The Institute has been conducting its foul experiments for decades. We've been so single minded in our efforts we failed to take this threat seriously and now it might be too late. I will not stand idly by while hundreds of innocents die.. I will speak to the Elder."  
Diane's fingers in their steel casing clenched and unclenched.  
"We need to keep our heads cool, McKagan. I know you're worried. But we can't just charge in not knowing what we're facing. We have no idea how many there are."  
"Let me take a vertibird to fly over Goodneighbor!"  
Hunter looked relieved that Danse was willing to hear him out. It was decided for the Synth; Danse had officially earned his respect.  
“It’s never too late as long as there’s one soul left to fight for the right to live,” said Hunter. Danse was right when he said they needed more information. “Paladin Danse, I have a built in stealth generator that I can use to get me in and out undetected. The only problem is that the module itself is built into my pelvic assembly along with my backup power core. If you have any welding tools, scavenged Synth parts, or things of that nature, I can put myself back together and recon Goodneighbor.” He took a breath out of habit and continued on. “I know putting me back together is not something Proctor Quinlan is keen on, but I’m asking you to trust me.” He thought for a moment. “If it will make you trust me more, I’ll remove my primary reactor core and leave it with Diane and run off of my backup core. My backup core has a maximum lifespan of only one year, versus the primary going for 120 years. I don’t know if that’ll make you feel better, but I won’t get very far on a backup core.”  
"You gotta see if your lady is alright." Diane teased then sighed wistfully. "That's the most romantic thing I've ever heard. Heading into unknown danger to rescue your lady love."  
Danse lowered his brow. "They might have that tech back at the airport. On the other hand reassembling you could be a learning experience. "  
"I'm vouching for him, Danse." Diane spoke up.  
The paladin considered "It won't be very romantic if you're in pieces." He conceded. Beckoning one of the obviously not eavesdropping scribes over he conferred with him a moment before a trio of the scribes began removing Hunter from his rig and taking the duffel bag containing the rest of him.  
"Too bad we can't fix your face." Diane muttered.  
Hunter breathed another sigh of relief. It was good that Paladin Danse was willing to trust him; that boded well for the future. He smiled over his shoulder as Diane vouched for him. “Romance is the last thing on my mind. As much as I hate Danni being in harm’s way, I can’t let my concern for her take precedence over the welfare of everyone else.” He looked a little alarmed when the Scribes began to remove him from the harness. “If necessary, I can remove the rest of my biosynthetic skin from my face but I don’t want to completely terrify Danni. Heh..as if looking at me now wouldn’t terrify her.”  
"Now wait just a hot second." Diane raised both hands. "She DOES know you're a synth."  
"That's hardly a pressing issue at the moment, McKagan." said Danse going over Scribe Neriah's notes again.  
"Still" Diane went on. "You should put on something in case you find her. I have some clothes stashed here somewhere."  
There was static as Diane fiddled with her Pip Boy, the HUD visible inside her helmet. "That's strange. Radio's not coming in. No Diamond City, no settlement beacon."  
"Could there be some sort of interference?" Danse suggested.  
"Well that would be something. It's just...quiet. Perfect silence. And before you ask my Pip Boy is working fine." a pause. "This is not good."  
“No, she doesn’t,” said Hunter. “That’s not important right now, as Danse said. I’ll figure something out in terms of clothing.” He frowned “This is bad.” He looked at Danse. “We have to go now. I can reassemble myself once we get to the airport.”  
He ordered the scribes to take Hunter to the airport and utilize the resources there to rebuild him. Diane he ordered to come with him to the Prydwen. Giving Hunter one last parting glance, Diane followed Danse to the vertibird. She prayed she would continue to have the Elder's ear. She did not like withholding information even for the greater good. Thankfully as a young, still impressionable man he was not hardened and impossible to change. She did not expect him to embrace synths overnight but was definitely not the monster the Commonwealth made him out to be. Synths were an abomination. What no one knew was that Diane hated synths more than anyone. Ghouls were...gross. They were. But they couldn't help that. Diane knew plenty who at least were beautiful on the inside.  
She stood at attention while Danse plead their case. Idly she wondered how Hunter was doing.

Hunter looked a little nervous when Danse ordered his scribes to take him to the airport. He was perfectly capable of defending himself, yes, but.. Diane and Danse were the only two members of the Brotherhood of Steel that he truly trusted. He did not know these Scribes and as a result did not trust them. When they finally arrived at the airport and had everything set up for rebuilding him, Hunter stopped them. "Not that I don't appreciate the assistance, but have any of you ever built or repaired a Synth before? Even if you have, I'm not like most Synths. I've got no problem educating you in case the knowledge is useful in the future, but I prefer to do it myself. Now, I'll need.." He began to list off a rather short list of metallic alloys and mechanical and technological components. He instructed the assembled Scribes how to build a vertebral connector, using the anatomy of the human body as a template.  
"Now you see here the L-4 connector, or the 4th lumbar vertebrae, was where the Deathclaw bit right through me. My endoskeleton is built in such a way that my internal components can be swapped out for replacements should the need arise. It's what lets the Coursers, and myself, stay out in the field for longer periods of time before returning to the Institute. The earlier Gens can't do this and so need to return to the Institute for repairs." He showed them how to create the titanium polyalloy that comprised his entire endoskeleton, how to rework wires and attach even the tiniest microconnectors. Finally, the new L-4 connector was completed. Hunter had two the scribes come forward to help him remove the damaged connector and reattach the new one. He was concerned about providing the Scribes with the knowledge of his infrastructure, but he realized that in order to win you had to be willing to lose a little. Finally, they were ready to proceed. Hunter had two of the scribes set his pelvic assembly on the table below him and push it upward until the internal spinal shaft reconnected both halves.

_  
The scribes did have a field day repairing Hunter, asking questions, taking notes. They followed his instructions to the letter as asked bringing him the materials. They were a little disappointed he was not the usual gen 3, who could not be distinguished from a human but to have a unique model at hand put them ill at ease. Oddly they were not rude (out loud, anyway). Some even seemed thrilled to be addressing so advanced a machine. The possibility of such technology and the potential to put it to better use.  
"You really are a marvel, er...Hunter, was it?" said a young woman. "I don't think we've met formally, I'm Scribe Haylen." Stepping back she watched and scratched down notes as the scribes reattached his body.  
Hunter found that he enjoyed the Scribes asking questions and taking notes. Why that should be he had absolutely no idea. He knew that all of them felt some kind of way about Synths. He supposed that he should be grateful that they were at least trying to make an effort to be nice. He turned to look at the young woman who spoke and recognized her from Cambridge. He grinned a little and waved aside her compliment. “I’ve still got a ways to go if a Deathclaw can bite through me like I was made out of InstaMash. No we haven’t met officially. Pleased to meet you, Scribe Haylen. My primary designation is Hunter-Killer unit 01, or HK-01, but yes my chosen name is Hunter Kirkland. Not terribly creative, but what’re you gonna do?” He shrugged, turning to look at the Scribes. 

Override command: Reinitialize HK-01

COMMAND OVERRIDE ACCEPTED  
STAND-BY FOR SYSTEM RE-INITIALIZATION

“Now that you’ve reattached my lower half, I have to reinitialize myself. Sort of like you’d do to a computer when you install new software or hardware. Be right back.”

Initiate system re-initialization.

SYSTEM SHUTTING DOWN  
Haylen went over her notes again as Hunter rebooted his systems. "Is everything operational?"  
Hunter froze, his expression going blank as his red eye slowly went dark. Soon it flickered to life again as his CPU ran a self-diagnostic, making sure everything was where it was supposed to be. “Okay,” said Hunter after about five minutes. “Let’s see what happens.” He took a deep breath and attempted to move his toes. Nothing happened at first and then his foot twitched and soon the other one joined in. He took a few minutes to raise and lower his legs, his system getting used to doing its job again after being violently disassembled.  
"This is quite a breakthrough. I can't believe the Elder sanctioned this. " Haylen paused, trying to dial back her excitement. "I wonder how much farther we can get just studying synths. McKagan said it was you, not her, who saved our squad from the deathclaw."  
“Neither can I, honestly. I was lying in Proctor Quinlan’s office, and that skinny little prick was practically salivating at the thought of taking me apart. I thought that was the end for me, but Diane saved my life.” He smiled fondly at the thought of her. “She’s brave. Not afraid to speak her mind either. She’s a good friend.” He then sighed. “Gladius would have been attacked sooner or later. That Deathclaw was an Alpha male, which means the infected Deathclaw from which I got that Thorn specimen from was its mate. My guess is it followed us from the Isaacson farm and waited until it saw the ones that killed its mate. Diane didn’t have her power armor and I knew she didn’t stand a snowball’s chance of surviving if that thing attacked her. The only reason she was out there without protection was because she was trying to persuade my dumb ass to reconsider Paladin Danse’s offer of joining the Brotherhood. She didn’t deserve to die because of that and I...well. I care about her. So I pushed her out of the way and that thing snatched me up and then bit me in half. Luckily for me I was able to fish a grenade out of my duffel bag before it got to us. Believe me, Haylen, you don’t wanna ever see the inside of a Deathclaw.”  
Turning toward Hunter Haylen smiled, chuckling nervously. She visibly grimaced at his description of the attack. She'd only seen the aftermath.  
"I hope I never see the inside of a deathclaw. " She gazed at him a good long while. He was a synth yet sacrificed himself. "McKagan's speaking her mind is going to get her in trouble one day. But between her and Danse they can persuade the Elder."  
Hunter sat up as his HUD told him that, aside from structural integrity being at only 80% of capacity, everything else checked out. “Yeah, everything seems to be working just fine. Paladin Danse hasn’t given me the go-ahead to recon Goodneighbor yet so I’ll have to wait here until he gets Elder Maxson’s thumbs up.”  
"Quinlan does like his data collection." Pulling up a chair to the terminal Haylen sat down to type up her report. "You're lucky they didn't hand you over to Ingram. She'd have taken you apart first thing."  
“Guess handing me over to Quinlan wasn’t the worst thing they could have done,” he smiled, leaning against the workbench they had put him on and watched her as interested as she watched him.  
After a lull Haylen rested her chin in her palm, elbow on the desk. "I was too harsh on her. I just don't like seeing my brothers and sisters fighting. But now that I think about it they both went too far. Rhys called her a traitor and McKagan bloodied his nose. Two wrongs don't make a right, though, do they..."  
“Luckily for everyone Diane had a quick wit and a quick mouth. Back on the Prydwen, my reactor core nearly went critical and Diane was prepared to chuck the thing into the water. Thankfully I managed to talk her through fixing it. My primary power core is basically a miniaturized nuclear reactor with a blast radius of five miles and Diane, like a pro, fixed it. She’s a real credit to the Brotherhood, you know. Of course, if I’m being honest with myself, I can’t really blame Rhys for calling her a traitor. Synths aren’t supposed to exist and they’re kill on sight, right? Seeing one of your foremost Knights with a Synth in tow was probably a nasty shock to everyone, especially Paladin Danse. Diane took a chance with me and she full well knows it. She’s put a lot of trust in me and I would never willingly do anything to betray that trust.”  
"I heard about that! Maybe she should be a scribe. Being cooped up isn't her style though. She'd go crazy." Haylen laughed. "One time she fractured her leg and had to rest. She told Knight Captain Cade if she couldn't be cleared for duty she'd go insane and take him with her. From what I hear she nearly did!"  
Hunter laughed as Haylen described some of Diane's earlier exploits. "Diane doesn't seem the type to sit sedately in one place while everyone else gets to head into danger. She's a real go-getter, and its a real admirable quality."  
He smiled -that felt...good, he realized. Maybe...maybe the Brotherhood of Steel wasn't as bad as he had originally believed. "I'm glad I'm helping you as well, Haylen. I don't like killing innocent people and, if your people had attempted to remove any technological components from my body, my reactor core would have self-destructed. The Institute programs that feature into some of us in the event of capture."  
Haylen smiled and shook her head. Diane was going to Diane. "Losing the Prydwen would have been a catastrophe. We are out here to better understand technology and keep it out of dangerous hands." Glancing about Haylen noticed they were alone. "To tell the truth I'm glad you're helping us. The Brotherhood, they can be so...black and white. But we drew a line in the sand and there's no talking anymore."  
Before any of them could speak further Danse and Diane returned.  
"Suit up, Kirkland." Danse ordered. "There's no more time to waste. We'll provide you with additional Stealth Boys and will airlift you as close to Goodneigbor as possible."  
He looked to Diane expectantly. She was either mentally checked out, sheltering herself from worry..or she was messing with her Pip Boy again.  
"Oh. Teams of Minutemen are approaching from the south. Brotherhood knights are going to rendezvous with them and we'll decide our next move once you get back with your intel. Thoughts? Questions? Non sequitur?"

He looked around as Danse returned and suppressed a sigh of relief; the Elder had given his approval. "Right away, Paladin," said Hunter. "Is there anything you can provide in terms of armor? My structural integrity is somewhat compromised so any protection you could provide would be welcome. As for your stealth boys, watch this." He smirked slightly.  
"I have my combat armor. Should fit you." Diane said, still rather absently. "I'm leaving, too. I'm still General of the Minutemen even if some of them don't like that I've allied us with the Brotherhood. The Thorn is everybody's problem and it's going to take everybody to deal with it. So I'll see you soon, in my spiffy tricorner."

Activate stealth field.

STEALTH FIELD ACTIVATED

Hunter slowly vanished from view. Unlike stealth boys, his stealth field produced no visible distortion and as such was completely invisible. "My stealth field generator is much more advanced than your run-of-the-mill stealth boy. Those produce a distorted invisible target which is still visible in the right conditions. Only way you're gonna detect me is if you were to bump into me or if I were to reveal myself."

Deactivate stealth field.

STEALTH FIELD DEACTIVATED

They all stared at the empty spot where Hunter had been. Or still was. Haylen began to furiously scribble notes again. "How is no light refracted?" She wondered aloud.  
"That's cool." Diane mused. "Oh yeah. Hunter you might wanna bullshit your way out of this all. Hancock won't like the cavalry coming, especially not the Brotherhood. But we'll make him like it. Also best not to mention me at all."  
Haylen blinked "You know the mayor of Goodneighbor?"  
Diane spread her armored hands "Fucker owes me twelve caps. "

"Regardless" Danse cut in "proceed with caution, Kirkland. The rendezvous point is south of the fallen bridge. " To the soldiers about. "Alright people, let's move out."  
"Wait," said Hunter's voice as he rematerialized. "I think it would be a good idea if all of you programmed your communicators with the frequency of my communications node. I can't contact the Institute with it, thank God, but I can still talk to whatever device that is tuned to the same frequency. Diane, set your Pip-Boy's radio to a frequency of 7.8 gigahertz. Paladin Danse, I recommend you do the same with your communicator. If and when there is any tactical information to share, we'll have that advantage." He smiled at Haylen. "If I make it make in one piece, I'll let you inspect my stealth module." He took a deep breath. "Good luck. To all of us." He nodded at Paladin Danse, smiled at Scribe Haylen, and went to get the combat armor from Diane.  
"Good idea." said Danse. "Synchronizing...done."  
"7.8 gigahertz. Done." Diane said. "If things get too crazy we might have to move on your position."  
"If things get too crazy "Danse amended "You get the hell out."  
The combat armor was blazoned with the sword, wings and cogs. "This armor has always served me well. I've modified it so it'll be nice and light. May it protect you." Bringing her fist to her heart Diane said "Ad victoriam."  
Haylen and Danse responded in kind. "Ad victoriam, sister."  
"McKagan. "Danse said quietly. "Remember what the Elder said."  
"I'll come back alive. Don't worry."


	19. Once More Unto The Breach

The sky was alive with the hum of vertibirds. The usual patrols firing upon Gunners, Raiders and super mutants were instructed to avoid the greater Boston area for the time being. A few flew over the Minutemen settlements but found the communications to be shot.  
At the Castle Diane met with bad news. The cultists had infiltrated her settlements and severed communications. What was more they were stirring up the settlers who weren't too keen on helping the Brotherhood. There'd even been some bloodshed. All the while Diane listened to Preston Garvey's report she groaned to herself _where is the good news._  
"There is some good news. Plenty of Minutemen back us up. And of course you can always count on me."  
She smiled, though a little weak. "Thank you, Preston."

"Ad Victoriam," echoed Hunter as they all left. He was mostly silent on the ride over to the Minutemen HQ. He had wrapped fabric around the areas of his head that revealed him to be a Synth, making sure he left his robotic eye uncovered, and he had put a glove on over his metallic hand. He put on a pair of biker goggles to obscure both eyes and passed the time by making sure his two favorite pistols, which were returned to him before they all left, were full and in working order. "I'm really worried about Danni," he murmured to Diane, loud enough to be heard over the whir of the engines. "She didn't tell me what her plans were for the Cult before I left to find Recon Squad Gladius."

He listened, frowning slightly, as Preston reported on the loss of communications at the various settlements around the Commonwealth. He stepped forward and put a hand on Diane's shoulder. "It's good that we have the Minutemen on our side. They're a force to be reckoned with."

"We'll find her, don't worry. "Diane reassured him. "We'll put the word out. Hm. I have an idea."

On the ground Diane brought her power armor to a station and exited. As promised, Diane was in her spiffy tricorner to match the colonial attire. A handsome blue frock coat, fitting of the General. "Garvey, why don't you show Hunter around a bit? We still have a bit before it's time to move out. " Diane suggested. "At the very least take him to the armory." She smirked at Hunter. "Go on and take anything that catches your eye."  
The Castle was buzzing with activity. Provisioners arrived with their pack brahmin laden with supplies. A few crates had BLACK HEART MANUFACTURING painted on the sides. Armed men and women patrolled the walls.  
"We're no army but the closest thing to one, now." Preston said. "We have farms all over the place, mass produce purified water, weapons, ammo, you name it. People come from all over to trade. The ones here at the Castle are our best. "  
Diane adjusted her gloves. "You have to practice to be the best. Another advantage to our unity is sharing experiences. Plenty of space here to train."  
"FORM RANKS, you worthless sons of mole rats!" Shouted a tiny wrinkled woman. She scowled at the crooked lines "My grandson could march straighter lines than you, galdurn it!"  
"What's up, Ronnie?" Diane called.  
"Just a bunch of nonsense, General. " She snapped back at the ranks, who at last were neat as chocolates in a box. "That's better!"  
Hunter followed her as she exited her power armor. He really was preoccupied about Danni and almost didn't hear what Diane said next. However, the mention of weaponry was enough to snap him out of his worried trance. "Ooooh, an armory?" He grinned beneath the face wrap. "Should be a damn good time, then. See you later." He followed Preston to the Armory. "So Preston, name's Hunter by the way. How long have you known Diane?"

"Oh, right. Preston Garvey. Minutemen. I've known Diane for..." Preston paused to remember. "Been damn near a year now. Nine, ten months? All of this was possible because of her. " He led Hunter through the long hall. At the end was a room with its walls lined with shelves and tables. On every surface were guns of all sizes, boxes of ammo. Upon the floor rested turrets awaiting assembly. "The General must really like you." Preston smirked. "She doesn't let just anyone take one of her toys."  
From a table he picked up a gauss rifle and peered down its sight. " You must have made an impression."  
“Not as big an impression as she’s made on me. She’s treated me better than I ever expected from a Human.”  
Preston frowned a bit as soon as Hunter said 'from a human'. Lowering the rifle he replied " We don't discriminate. Synths, ghouls, humans, all of them can be good or bad. Humans seem like the only ones with the problem. "  
Hunter smiled a little. “I’ve noticed that. The world’s been blown to hell and you Humans kill each other for the scraps and somehow we Synths are the bad ones. But it’s like you said; all can be good or bad. It’s the part we choose to act on is what counts.”  
Hunter stopped examining the weapons and turned to Preston. “If we’re going to be working together, there needs to be honesty on all sides. I’m a Synth. I don’t actually have a name, just a designation: HK-01. I chose Hunter as my name when I severed my connection to the Institute network. Don’t worry,” he said quickly. “My long range communications node and relay node were rendered inoperable by a Raider attack so the Institute has no idea where I am.” He let out a little sigh. “As I was saying, Diane has treated me like..well. Like a human being. I’m proud to call her my friend.” He smiled, going back to examining the weapons. “Got quite the impressive collection here, but we’re going to need flamer units. I assume the General has briefed you on what’s been happening, as well as reports coming in from your settlements.” He briefly explained about his girlfriend, Danni. “She was going to try to stop her grandfather but I have to assume she failed. I don’t know if she’s even still alive.”  
He shook his head. "Flamers, well we've got plenty of those. We've mostly been using them to clear out brush so there's a lot of fuel. We can always make more."  
He listened intently to the part about Danni. "If she's got inside information we'll need to find her- fast." What he didn't say out loud was probably what Hunter was also thinking. _And if she's been found out it might already be too late._

"So you've lost your contact on the inside? That's hardly proper Institute protocol."  
Preston wheeled around. The door which swung open toward the outside was partly closed. He didn't close the door. A metal hand reached around and pulled the door all the way open. There stood a decrepit synth in a faded trenchcoat, his yellow eyes bright under his fedora. "Missing people, parasitic plants. Feels like we're in a comic book."  
Hunter turned around and frowned as the speaker came through the door. 

UNIDENTIFIED SYNTH DETECTED.  
SRB DIRECTIVE SUSPENDED

He knew who the Synth was even though he had never met the man: Detective Nick Valentine. “I don't know what kind of comic books you read but it’s one I want nothing to do with.” Hunter stepped forward, extending a hand. “HK-01, or Hunter. Pleased to finally meet the Detective of Diamond City.”  
There was a note of laughter in Preston's voice "You scared the bejesus out of me, Nick."  
Nick smirked. "I tend to have that effect on people." Entering the room he shoved his hands in his pockets. "Another Institute escapee? Well this day just keeps getting better and better." He considered the offered hand and flicked his eyes at Preston.  
"This guy saved Diane from a deathclaw. Twice. Got chewed by another deathclaw the second time and risked getting taken apart by the Brotherhood."  
The detective hrm'd and said "Diane's good at putting away Nuka Cola like a trash can and shooting everything except what she's aiming at, that doesn't make her wise. " Still, he shook Hunter's hand firmly, eye contact and all. "Sorry to be a doubting Thomas but trust is a rare commodity around here."

Hunter felt a little awkward when Nick refused his handshake but was relieved it was taken anyway. “Guess you could call me an escapee. If it weren’t for a Raider that shot me in the head with an armor piercing round, I’d be back in the Institute being reprogrammed. It damaged my relay node beyond repair and made it impossible for me to contact the Institute. You won’t see me complaining much.” He chuckled. “As for that Deathclaw, Diane returned the favor by saving me from being taken apart and used for spare parts.”

"Diane cultivates some rather odd friends." Nick conceded. "Preston here is probably the closet thing to normal. Except he hangs around us. The odd will rub off on him eventually."  
Preston made a noise of mock indignation. "Well don't worry. From what I hear Hunter hates the Institute as much as you do, Nick. But what are you doing all the way out here?"  
Flexing his metal fingers Nick replied "There's been a number of disappearances lately. Settlers just wandering off and since our favorite popsicle tends to have a finger in every pie I thought she'd know something." he paused adding quietly "And to check on her."  
Preston nodded sadly. "She's been doing better since your talk."  
"Good." Nick murmured. "That's good. " To Hunter he said "So your young lady is in this druid cult? Late teens, red hair? Danielle, something or other?"

Hunter chuckled. "She sure does, Nick. Must be weird for you to be hanging around a bunch of malfunctioning robots, eh Preston?" He sobered up fairly quickly at the mention of the disappearing settlers. He heard the last bit and frowned slightly,. Check on her? Wonder what that's about, he wondered, but he filed that comment away for later; now was not the time for idle speculation. Hunter however stared at Nick when he gave a rough description of Danni. "Daniella, her name is Daniella. Have you seen her? Where is she?"

"Daniella, that was the name. Girl by that description was wandering south Boston with a bunch of those robed creeps. " Nick exchanged looks with Preston.  
"That madman Prower has hundreds of people. You're going to have a hell of a time getting inside Goodneighbor. It's been under siege the last three days. I know Hancock. He won't surrender. Prower's leading the charge but his granddaughter is leading forces elsewhere. " Tugging at his coat collar Nick perused the armory selecting a laser pistol. "So Hunter are you still determined to do this crazy thing?" Hunter couldn't help letting out a sigh of relief; Danni was alive. He barely heard the rest of Valentine's sentence because he was so very relieved. Danni was alive! He only snapped out of his reverie when Nick called him by name.  
"Huh? What? Sorry, I kinda zoned out for a minute. Uh..well part of the reason I wanted to go to Goodneighbor was to see if Danni was there. Now that I know she's alive but isn't there..all I'd be able to do is help Hancock defend the town. I promised Danni we'd give Tobias the chance to end his psychotic campaign peacefully, but...I told her that if he can't talk him down, I'd put a round through his head."

Preston listened to the synths converse then put in "Well whatever we decide we have to break the siege. The people in Goodneighbor are tough but if Prower's forces are as many as you say they won't last much longer." He considered a moment. "There has to be terms of surrender. If you find Hancock, maybe you can convince him to-"  
Nick waved a hand impatiently "Garvey you know as well as I do Hancock is too stubborn to give up his town. But we'll see what we'll see. We better get a move on."

Outside Diane walked the lines of the assembled Minutemen. As Preston had said they were from all walks of life. Men and women, human and ghoul. Some had laser muskets, others shotguns, rifles, pistols and knives. Far in the back stood one lone super mutant brandishing a hammer. "Strong smash leaf men!"

"Brothers and sisters, we've another invader on our hands. Self righteous folk who think they can stroll in and take our home. They call us defilers, ravagers of the earth and sea, that we are to pay for the sins of our forefathers. Right now they're attacking our friends in Goodneighbor. Mayor Hancock holds them with twenty men. Are we going to sit back and let them have the town? And maybe you don't care. But it's all our problem. If Goodneighbor is lost we're, to put it not very eloquently, we are fucked. If you've followed me before, I ask you again to follow me into the abyss. Help me rid the Commonwealth of these tree hugging bastards-"  
"Give 'em hell, General!" someone shouted from the troop lines. Cries of approval and cheers.  
"Oh we will give them hell, brother. They think they can divide us. Pour poison in our ears and weaken our hearts. We are survivors, fighters! Everyone here. NOW LET'S GO KICK THEIR ASSES!"  
Deafening cheers and weapons held high. Strong the mutant let out a roar.

Hunter stood back and listened while Diane gave a rousing speech to the assembled fighters. He felt a fierce glow of pride in his chest to be able to be a part of this; to do what he had been built to do. Tobias better damn well make peace with his Mother because they were about to send him to her in pieces. "She can sure rally a crowd," he said, smiling slightly. "Give 'em hell, General," he said quietly.

Threat level Omega.

THREAT LEVEL OMEGA  
COMBAT PROTOCOLS INITIATED  
STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY: 80%  
CPU TEMPERATURE: 90°F  
INTERNAL TEMPERATURE: 90°F

Scan memory files, location: Goodneighbor. Plot three dimensional map and mark Old State House as primary resistance HQ

GENERATING MAP  
COORDINATES MARKED

In a tiny part of Hunter's HUD, a complete map of Goodneighbor appeared with the location of Hancock's seat of government marked.


	20. The Hanging Garden

The march to Goodneighbor felt shorter to Diane than it was. An icy feeling of dread crept through her even as she walked with Preston at her right and Nick to her left. The troops clamored for her attention, some shouting _give us a song, General!_  
They didn't know all the words but soon a hundred voices took up the chorus  
_You can run on for a long time, run on for a long time. Run on for a long time, sooner or later God'll cut you down!_  
_Let everyone hear us_ Diane thought. _Let them know the Minutemen are here._ Soon they came to the rendezvous point where the knights awaited, Paladin Danse at the front.  
"Danse!" Diane cried out. He was in his helmet but his armor was unmistakable. He gave her the Brotherhood salute, which she returned with a slight bow.  
"Alright Hunter, it's all you."  
Hunter followed along, finding the beat of the music to be entrancing. He stomped along to the beat, not familiar with the song himself but no less enthralled by it. It was fitting somehow that the lyrics were "God's gonna cut you down" while on the march to fight. He never felt more human than this moment and finally they arrived at the rendezvous point where Danse and the Brotherhood were waiting. He smiled at Danse and saluted the man. It was game time.  
"Right. I feel a lot better about this knowing that I've got all of you to save the day. When it's time to storm the city, I'll signal you." He turned to Diane and embraced her. He held her for several moments before letting her go, holding her by the shoulders. "You're a real gift to everyone that knows you, Diane. Don't you ever forget it." He stepped back and grinned at all of them. "When the time comes....give 'em hell, boys and girls."  
"In and out." Danse reminded him.  
"Ahh the ol' in and out." Diane snickered. Danse paused, nonplussed. She let out a squeak as she was embraced by the synth but responded in kind. "Your girl is lucky to have you, Hunter." She murmured. _Not as lucky as I am to have her,_ thought Hunter as he sped away.  
Then she watched him go. Swallowing hard she felt a soft weight on her shoulder. Nick smiled down at her. And they waited.

Activate stealth field.

STEALTH FIELD ACTIVATED

He slowly faded from view and that was that; he set off in a dead sprint towards Goodneighbor. He had transferred additional power to his legs and as such ran at sixty miles per hour towards the city.  


The streets were gardens of blood and Thorn. Shots and dying curses rang out. The fearsome roar of deathclaws and yao guai, twisted and overgrown.  
"Nature rises against you! You cannot win!" Came Tobias' voice, safe atop a tower.  
The Thorn had spread out of control and the local wasteland wildlife, already dangerous enough, had been augmented by the Thorn into terrifying parodies of their former selves. It really was fortunate that Hunter couldn't throw up, otherwise he would have. He heard Tobias' voice and looked towards the location of the old man's voice. His photoreceptors magnified the image. It was Tobias, all right. _You'll get yours soon enough, old man, and I really hope I'm the one to give it to you,_ thought Hunter venomously. He knew a direct approach to the city gates was out and so circled around and entered through an abandoned building, the same place he and Danni shared their first kiss. He reached the roof and perched on the edge, trying to get a view of the city streets below.  
In the streets below Hancock was helping the injured into the Old State house.  
"What's going on outside?" cried a ghoul woman.  
"They're killin' em!" said a man in a tattered suit."Folks outside scratchin' to get in and they're gettin' ripped to shreds"  
Cries of 'help us, mayor!' and 'what are we going to do, Hancock?'  
The mayor's own coat was darkened with blood -likely someone else's and not his own- and huge black thorns dug into the fabric. He was clearly seething. "We're not going down without a fight. Grab any ammo you can and don't give these bastards an inch!"  
Fahrenheit made her way across the plaza, minigun at hand. "MacCready says they've got reinforcements at Faneuil Hall."  
"That little-" Hancock growled then sighed "And I let her in here. Get the wounded inside. Tell MacCready to get his stringy ass back on the ground."  
"HANCOCK!" Hunter had amplified his vocal processor to carry clearly over the din of battle. Hunter grinned at the ghoul and his entourage and then leaped feet first from the building. He plummeted about thirty feet and landed on the ground below, landing hard enough to crack the crumbling ground beneath him and then stepped forward as if he didn't just do a superhero landing. Hancock grimaced as someone shouted his name.  
"Jesus Christ in a dump truck." He glanced up "Who-"  
He was still wearing his facial wrap and removed it when he got to Hancock, revealing his human skin and half his Synth skull. The ground trembled as Hunter landed. Hancock waved at the others to stand down then his expression brightened considerably.  
"Hunter, you magnificent bastard. " his eyes flicked up and down. "You look like shit."  
Hunter smirked at the mayor of Goodneighbor. "Look who's talkin'." He clapped Hancock on the shoulder. "Well now that I have your permission. We don't have much time before they breach the walls. It'd take too long to explain but suffice it to say Danni isn't responsible for this. You have to trust me on this, Hancock. I've never lied to you before and I'm not gonna start now."  
Turning his back Hancock picked up a shotgun. "Unless they can fly, they ain't gettin' in."  
Establish communications with Paladin Danse and Diane McKagan. Broadcast JohnnyCash001.

CHANNEL OPEN  
BROADCASTING ON COMMUNICATIONS FREQUENCY.

Johnny Cash began playing from Diane's Pip-Boy and Danse's communicator. That was Hunter's signal to send in the troops. "Send in the Vertibirds!" said Hunter's voice in Danse's and Diane's communicators.  
"Roger!"  
"Roger! Comin' in hot!"  
"Vertibirds?" Hancock asked then grabbed Hunter by the shirt "What the hell are you doing?"  
Hunter grinned fiercely as the responses came through his com node. He was grabbed by Hancock and grinned at the ghoul. "I'm about to drop the Wrath of God, my friend."  


Hancock released his grip on Hunter. With a growl the mayor turned back to Goodneighbor’s failing wall. If even one deathclaw broke the line it was all over. His jaw tightened so hard the muscles stood out. Outside the distinct scream of miniguns and roar of flamers rose up.  
"Ad victoriam!"  
"For the Commonwealth!"  
CRACK.  
The wooden and metal gate buckled and began to splinter and twist.  
"Get ready!" Hancock shouted.  
"DON'T LET THEM THROUGH!" Diane's voice came over the noise.  
Hunter whipped around to look towards the gate, pulling both pistols from his waistband and thumbing the hammers back.  
"FOCUS ON THE HEAVIES. THE THORNED YAO GUAI AND DEATHCLAWS ARE THE MAIN THREATS. IF THEY GET THROUGH THE GATES, THEY'LL TEAR EVERYTHING UP!" Hunter broadcasted to the Vertibird pilots and Diane and Danse.  
"Hancock, up in that tower there is where Tobias is. I'm going to take him alive if I can. I promised Danni that I would. The Brotherhood and Minutemen can take care of things down here."  
Glancing at Hunter he said “We’ve got some immediate problems right now! Let me hear you!” He called to the drifters, the druggies and the downtrodden. “Who’s afraid of the Reverent?”  
They shuffled uncomfortably. Some embraced one another, trembling in fear.  
Rounding on them he roared in a voice that drowned out even the splintering wood. “I said! WHO’S AFRAID?!”  
“Not us!” A few called.  
Grinning now Hancock asked “What town should the Reverent not fuck with?!”  
“GOODNEIGHBOR!”  
Hancock added his own voice to the gathering “Of the people, for the people!”They met the yao guai and the wall of druids with their rallying cry and a hail of bullets.  
“They’re through! God damn it all!” came Diane’s voice.  
“All units fall back to Goodneighbor! All units to Goodneighbor!”  
A cry of anger and pain from Diane “RRRGH. I’m hurt bad…! If I make it out of this, make sure my dumb ass is in power armor next time. Who’s that? “  
“This is Elder Arthur Maxson. Hunter- hold the line, reinforcements inbound.”  
Hunter watched Hancock rally the people of Goodneighbor in time for the gates to completely give way. "Fuck damn it all!" he yelled. Everyone on the ground was in danger now, but if Tobias escaped, all of this would start over. Hunter began to hurry towards the scrum at the gates, his combat protocols ensuring that he did not hit his allies once he started shooting. He may have been an advanced killing machine, but not even his combat subprocessors could compensate for people darting left and right in the ensuing brawl. He decided it would be safer aiming for the bigger targets, the Yao Guai and the like. He almost lost concentration when Elder Maxson's voice came through his com node. Elder Maxson was here? "Elder Maxson, Tobias Prower is here safe up in a tower on the outskirts of the city. If he escapes, this will all happen again. Request permission to apprehend target."  
Hancock had already run out of ammo and resorted to knifing the attackers. Then they stopped. Turned and fled.“And STAY OUT!” Hancock shouted after them. The denizens of Goodneighbor cheered. “What’s that? Elder? he asked.  
Elder Maxson ordered “En route to the tower. Meet me there. McKagan. Danse.”  
“Roger.” Said Danse.   
“ “Ugh.” Diane groaned. “Let me…-rrgh- stick myself with a few stimpaks and I’ll be there with bells on.”  
“Let’s make it a party.” Said Hancock testing a thumb along the edge of his combat knife.

Crouched over a druid body was a thin fellow in a yellow duster. “Hold!” Danse commanded. Turning, the man rose slowly, hands up. “Easy, Danse.” Sighing Danse lowered his rifle. “MacCready. What are you doing in here?”  
“I could ask you the same. It’s hell outside.” Stepping over a corpse he peered around the paladin toward the entrance.  
“They fell back.” Danse clanked about to follow his gaze. Diane stumbled in, arms tightly at her sides.  
“Don’t...mind me.”

“Circle the perimeter. A knight at every window and door. Don’t let him escape!” Maxson ordered.  
Hancock strolled in as though he were the guest of honor at a party, cigarette in hand. “Well this is about to be a blood bath or an orgy. Either way, it’ll be a great time.” Running lightly across the bodies and debris MacCready caught Diane by the shoulders. “Diane! “  
“Don’t fuss now or I’ll scream.” Diane wriggled loose. “What happened in here? There’s no wounds in these people.”  
“Good. You’re all here.” Said Elder Maxson. Flanked by knights in power armor though he himself had come as is.  
“That’s quite a compensator there…” Hancock said, flicking his ashes and indicating Maxson’s gatling laser. “Garvey and Fahrenheit are gathering the wounded. Nick is scoping out Faneuil Hall in case of a counter attack.”  
“Spread out, sweep every room.” Maxson approached Diane and the faintest hint of concern was on his face. "I should have treated this matter with more urgency."  
Hunter went invisible again as soon as Hancock went to defend the entrance. He had more important things to deal with.

Override command: Update primary mission objectives  
Apprehend Tobias Prower. Do not kill target.  
Suspend secondary objectives.

COMMAND OVERRIDE ACCEPTED  
PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVES UPDATED  
SECONDARY MISSION OBJECTIVES SUSPENDED

Hunter arrived at the building where the tower was located and he entered it, moving slowly and carefully to avoid making any undue noise. His pistols were drawn as the assembled group made it inside. He thought about deactivating his stealth field but his primary mission was to find Tobias. He ascended the upper levels of the building, searching each room carefully.  
Someone had begun to slowly applaud. From the shadows emerged Tobias, though he looked strangely younger than when Hunter had first met him. There were only a few threads of white in his black hair.  
"Bravo. The Commonwealth bands together to stop the inevitable. The woman out of time, the ghoul of Goodneighbor, the once and future king and his loyal knights. Where does that leave you, synth? " He frowned. "You will exist in a world that despises you. And be if from violence or time all your human friends will die. Are you programmed to feel sorrow?"  
Hunter spun around and rematerialized, both pistols pointed at Tobias' head. His eyes narrowed slightly. The last time he saw Tobias was with Danni, and the old man had looked...old. Now he looked like he had aged backwards rather than forwards. A little niggle of worry tugged at the back of Hunter's mind as he spoke.  
"We tend to do that when some fucking pyschopath tries to take over the world. What, did you think we'd all just roll over and let you wipe us all out?" He shook his head, feeling a mix of deep disgust and pity for the man. "Game's over, Tobias. You've lost. Now, I promised someone special that I'd take you alive, so that's what I'm gonna do. Get on your knees with your hands behind your head. Or if you'd like I'll put a bullet in your calf. I've heard it's a very painful wound for Humans, but what would I know?" He raised both pistols, aimed directly at the man's legs. He then opened a direct comline to Elder Maxson. "Elder Maxson, I've apprehended Tobias Prower on the second floor, east wing. Proceed with EXTREME caution. I've got a bad feeling about this."  
Tobias did not budge but just stood there staring at Hunter, his eyes colder and more lifeless than even a gen 1 synth. "How droll. For all your bravado you still posses the unfortunate burden of conscience. Kill me if you like. But nothing changes."  
The reply on the comms was a chorus of panicked cries, curses and screams.  


Danni picked up the hem of her robes and tried to ignore the piles of bodies. "Hancock!" She cried bounding over the ruins of the Goodneighbor gate. Fahrenheit spun up her minigun.  
"Stop, don't shoot!" Danni held up her hands. "I'm not one of them. Where's Hancock? Tell him Danni-"  
Pushing the barrel away the rounds rang harmlessly off the stone a foot from Danni. Preston panted heavily. "Danni? You're THE Danni?"  
"Yes!" She said urgently. "Where have they gone?"  


Hunter frowned when all that came back on comms were screams and more sounds of battle. Something bad had happened to the Brotherhood Knights and the Elder. He turned back to look at Tobias.  
"You talk too much, old man," he growled. "I'm not gonna kill you, much as I'd like to." He stuffed one of his pistols into a holster built into his combat armor but kept the other drawn. He walked behind Tobias and grabbed the old man's left arm with his left hand, the one that had all of its skin removed. Hunter's grip was solid and unbreakable and he prodded Tobias in the back with his pistol which was in his right hand. "Get moving."

Tucking his hands into his sleeves only to be pried out again in the synth's iron grip, Tobias complied, strolling as leisurely as if they were on a pleasant walk along the beach. When they came to the ground floor he let out a short laugh at the gruesome scene.  
From the fallen rose monstrous Thorn, snaking its way around the the living, power armor or not. The copper smell of blood, the odor of power armor fluids. A few of the victims had grown silent.  


Picking his way across the ruins Preston held Danni's hand as she told him of her grandfather's trap, leading her to the tower.  
"This is all my fault." She sobbed.  
Preston sighed. He didn't have the right words to comfort her. He only squeezed her hand reassuringly. _Please let us not be too late._  
"You refused to see last time. " Tobias was saying. "This time you will bear witness."  
"Oh my god." Preston breathed.  
Hunter's human eye widened and his Synth eye seemed to glow brighter at the gruesome scene waiting for them below. It was strange, he thought grimly, how deeply he had come to care for the Brotherhood of Steel, despite the fact that he knew very well how they felt about Synths. He didn't know if Diane was among those being assimilated by the Thorn. A strange pricking sensation was making itself known in his left eye and he felt...hollow in his stomach. "The only things you're gonna be seeing in a few minutes are my fingers gouging out your eyeballs,"  
"Grandfather! Let them go!" Danni shouted.  
Hunter snarled, the hand holding the gun trembling a little in rage. He looked up as he heard her voice. Nothing but hearing that voice could have pulled him out of his rage and grief. His face was turned away from her so only his human side showed, but he turned his head to look at her. Half-Hunter, half machine.  
"There you are." Tobias said. "My dear, you're late. You never were one for punctuality."  
Preston raised his gauss rifle but Danni dug her fingers into his shoulder. "Don't!"  
He threw a quick look her way. "Are you kidding? He's _killing_ them!"  
"Yes, the Thorn must feed. And you- you would choose outsiders over your blood? Traitor." Tobias glared at Hunter. "Your threats mean nothing."  
"Hunter...?" Danni asked. The robes nearly swallowed her and her red hair was loose about her shoulders. Then she brought her hands up to cover her mouth. "No...NO! " Climbing the stair she moved hypnotically to gaze up into Hunter's half human half mechanical face.  
"The whole time..." Danni murmured.  
"Danni! Stay back! " Preston warned but she ignored him.  
Glancing about, Preston didn't feel like getting involved in a family spat. While Danni was distracted he fired a shot at the nearest bramble. He nearly cursed aloud as the thing shrieked and dropped its burden, getting crushed under the weight of the power armor. Pulling the vines off himself Danse made for the next bramble.  
"Help...Hancock..." came Diane's voice.  
Without hesitation Danse found Hancock, the red of his coat showing. A long stream of muffled swears was his only answer.

 

Hunter made sure that he had his synthetic hand on Tobias' shoulder and the other hand the gun pressed against his back. He saw Preston and nodded at him. "They're not threats, they're promises. Now shut the fuck up before I rip out your tongue," snarled Hunter, digging the muzzle of his pistol roughly into Tobias' back, really having to resist the temptation of putting a bullet in the old man. He didn't even flinch when Preston fired his shot, but immediately felt relief at the reappearance of Paladin Danse, even moreso at hearing Diane's voice and Hancock's colorful swearing. The Thorn hadn't fully digested them like it did Angie. Maybe there was a way to get them all out. He watched Danni as she drew closer and immediately his heart sank at her reaction.  
"I.." Hunter didn't know what to say. "I wanted to tell you...several times I almost did..but I couldn't. You made your feelings on Synths quite clear. I didn't want to tell you because I knew that you'd react badly." He took a deep breath. "But, I couldn't live a lie. I couldn't keep lying to someone I love as much as you. Yes, Daniella. I love you. I wasn't programmed to love and before I met you I was just a machine pretending to be human. Then I met you and got to know you and that's when I truly started living. That was when I finally learned what love was. You make me feel like the luckiest guy in the world and you make me feel human." He looked away, hiding the synthetic part of his face. "I dunno how I could ever be worthy of your love, Daniella." He looked back at her. "When you look at me with those eyes and you smile my favorite smile...I feel alive. Yell at me if you want..I deserve it. But please...please don't leave me."  
Tobias did not even blink as the threats escalated. He did narrow his pale eyes at his wayward granddaughter and her synth lover. The bronze tree on his chest began to hum. Danni burst into hot angry tears. "Why didn't you tell me? You're a machine!" As he told her his feelings she shook her head "No. NO. Shut up!" Taking a deep breath she shouted "You're not even a person!"  
At last Diane grew frustrated and thrashing her arms and legs came loose, crunching the brambles under her. Sitting there she blinked owlishly- she didn’t expect that to work. Starting up ignoring the pain of a thousand thousand pricks she and Danse worked on pulling the others free. Preston narrowly avoided the tendrils on the ground. Then it dawned on him that they were receding.  
“Stay with me! “ Diane said, frantically pulling the vines. Gasping she pulled harder ignoring the ache in her palms. “Elder! Preston, help me! Elder!" Diane repeated, grasping his hand. To her relief his grip was still strong. _That son of a bitch. I knew this was a trap._  
She looked to Danse, supporting Hancock and MacCready under each arm. Danse was still strong. He wouldn't make a noise even if he was dying, though.  
Ouch. Diane grimaced. "Danni." She called. "You can sort your feelings out later. How do we stop the Thorn?"  
"You do not." Tobias said. "You die in agony and your life essence fuels me."  
Danni looked at her hands. Her pretty white skin was getting dry and wrinkled. "I-I'm getting weak...! You got what you wanted..." Her legs gave way and she slumped to the floor. "Spare them.."  
The others cried out, swore. _Damn it, I can't move...!_ Diane held onto Preston, Hancock and MacCready, sheltered by Danse's steel embrace. _If we're all going, at least we're all together._ Opening her eyes she beckoned Maxson to her. He did not cower but she didn't dare look at his face. Finally she took a quick peek. Maxson's face was the same as the others', veins black against the pale skin. His crushing grip as she drew him closer shook her back to her senses. Something in every fiber of her being told her to shelter with the others, something tugged in the back of her mind. Slowly, slowly, the fire crept through their veins. Calm. Remain calm. She gripped whatever hand would accept hers and though she didn't remember kneeling she found herself staring at the floor.  
"Diane. " Tobias said. Diane looked up. "Your pre war DNA is in a word, perfect. " He took a deep breath and his hair was jet black, his features no longer frail but youthful." Together we will rebuild this world. Adam and Eve."  
Nothing else mattered. Nothing else existed. Danni had said the very words Hunter was terrified of. The gun slipped from Hunter’s numb fingers and clattered to the floor. He barely registered everything else that happened.  
“ _You’re a machine! You’re not even a person!_ Everyone around him was dying, their life force being drained from them. Somewhere in the midst of numbness, grief turned to rage. He felt a corrosive hatred towards Danni, towards Diane, Preston, Hancock, Maxson, and especially Tobias. Everyone who Hunter thought actually liked him felt the exact same way: he was just a machine. His ‘friends’ were dying all around him. He watched in vindictive pleasure as Danni shriveled up in front of his eyes and collapsed. Humans were frail creatures, as evidenced by all the carnage around him. As he stood there, consumed by his overwhelming hatred of Humanity, a video popped up on his HUD. It was a video of Danni, smiling, eyes bright with the wonder of first love, humming along to Someone To Watch Over Me. He remembered the silent promise he made to her. I’ll always watch over you, Danni.

_I’ll always watch over you, Danni._

Override command: Update primary mission objectives.  
Kill Tobias Prower.

COMMAND OVERRIDE ACCEPTED: PRIMARY MISSION OBJECTIVES UPDATED.

TARGET LOCATED  
Tobias spread his hands. "Do you not see? You do not belong among this filth. You are the pure one. Join me and I will give you everything you want. We have the same goal, to remake the world."Danni lay there, red hair turning stark white. She stared up at Hunter, her lips forming words without sound. Tobias looked upon the suffering with malicious glee. "You cling to the past as much as I. Only you lack vision. " He canted his head "The king of steel is surprisingly resilient. Good. He can watch his precious ship burn. I wouldn't want him to miss that."  
"What I want..." Diane said weakly. "I want my son back. I want my husband back. I want...peace, and everything green and good. But we don't live in that world."  
_He's lost._ Danni thought bitterly. _And the Brotherhood didn't kill Mom and Dad, he did. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry._  
Hunter was still standing behind Tobias. He stepped forward and drew back his arm, hand balled into a fist. The synthetic fist punched through Tobias like wet paper. Old or young he was still flesh and bone. The bronze disc depicting the world tree of myth was torn from its bindings and clattered to the ground. Eyes wide Tobias slumped forward, the color and life gone from him. "Elena...forgive me." Then the light went out of his eyes .  
Hunter withdrew his fist from the corpse and shoved it carelessly aside. He turned his gaze on Danni. One storm gray eye, one robotic red eye.

_You're a machine! You're not even a person!_

_I'll always watch over you, Danni._

Hunter wiped his arm and hand off on the leggings of his combat armor and went to his knees beside Danni, putting his humanoid hand under her head and his synthetic hand under her legs and heaving her into his lap. "I'll always watch over you, Danni," said Hunter, his voice trembling with a mixture of grief and rage. He felt hot tears coursing down his humanoid cheek from his humanoid eye. So this was what it felt like to grieve.  
The wind rattled the metal of the ancient tower. The shadows danced over the power armor and the six below were still huddled together, silent as a tomb. Nick Valentine, his coat scorched and more of rubber composite skin gone stood before the six, and removed his hat in a gesture of mourning.  
"So it's all over." He said quietly. "It's -really- over. "


	21. Someone To Watch Over Me

Danni was limp in Hunter's arms, eyes closed and tears still wet on her cheeks.  
Hunter rallied himself and scanned Danni.

Initiate scan.

####SCAN INITIATED####  
FOREIGN CONTAMINANT DETECTED  
VITAL SIGNS WEAK  
BRAIN ACTIVITY MINIMAL

 

Calculate probability of death

CALCULATING........  
PROBABILITY ASSESSMENT INDICATES A 99.4% CHANCE OF DEATH

Hunter bent over the old woman in his arms, his shoulders shaking with grief. He looked up, desperately trying to find a way out of this nightmare, and his eyes fell upon the disc that was torn from the old man's chest when Hunter put his fist through it. He felt absolutely helpless. What could he do?! Another video feed popped up in his HUD showing the disc glowing as Tobias drained the attack party of their life force. He froze, tears still coursing down one cheek. He reached out with his Synth hand and picked up the fallen object.  
Nick could feel physical pain, sure. He remembered the pain his namesake felt when he learned his soon to be wife had been gunned down by Eddie Winter's goons. But this was too much, too much. He had no idea he could feel so sick at heart. Danse tore off his helmet and threw it down with a howl of anguish and sorrow. This startled Nick into staring up at the paladin.  
"Damn it! Damn it!" Danse stormed to the nearest wall and drove his metal fist into it , a layer of concrete shearing off and crumbling to dust at his feet.  
"Danse..." Nick said quietly.  
"I've failed..." Danse placed both hands on the wall and hung his head. "Why didn't it take me with the others?"  
Nick said nothing but turned toward Hunter, leaving Danse alone with his grief for now. He approached Hunter and knelt down. "This your girl?" He asked heavily.  
Hunter held the object in his metal hand. Nothing whatsoever happened. He was tempted to crush it to splinters but didn't have the will to do so.

WARNING: VITAL SIGNS DIMINISHING.

Hunter didn't even react when Danse screamed his grief. He felt hollow, like something vital had been violently torn out of him. Being bitten in half by that Deathclaw wasn't nearly as painful as this. He'd take being ripped into tiny little pieces over this. Danni was dying, and she was dying with contempt for the machine that loved her so fiercely. Hunter looked at Nick. Nick would notice Hunter's robotic eye shone a little less brightly than usual.  
"Yeah. She was. There's nothing I can do for her, Nick. She's dying." Hunter looked back at the old woman in his arms. There was nothing left for him anymore. The one thing that gave his life meaning was gone. Maybe he'd give himself up to the Brotherhood and let them dismantle him. Maybe he'd find a deserted stretch of Wasteland and self-destruct. Maybe he'd go back to the Institute and let them wipe his memory chip and reprogram him. He set the disc on Danni's chest and bent over her, shoulders shaking with renewed tears.  
"That's the way it is for synths like us." Nick set his hat down on the floor taking Danni's hand. "Humans are meant to live and die but we carry on. But letting go..it's not easy."  
_And people never change,_ Nick thought grimly. With their leaders gone the Commonwealth would be dissolved into fighting to fill the vacuum. They're be fingers pointed and all Diane's work will be for nothing. His eyes fell on the disc. That was on the archdruid ...he gave it a cautious prod. Either his photoreceptors were playing tricks on him or it was glowing... and did the girl turned old woman just twitch? He squeezed her hand gently in his still whole left hand. The bright copper color was gradually returning, too. No. Really?  
"What are you doing?" Hunter asked dully, looking up at Nick. He looked at what the Synth was doing and what he saw nearly made his reactor core fail. The white in Danni's hair was returning to its former luster. "Wh-what? How is this possible?" He scanned Danni again.

Initiate scan.

####SCANNING####

VITAL SIGNS AT 50% AND RISING  
NEURAL ACTIVITY AT 50% AND RISING

Danni's vital signs were getting stronger. "...Danni?" Hunter put a hand on her chest and shook her a little. "....Danni come on, open your eyes. Danni!" He watched the disc glowing brighter.  
"Danni, come on." Nick urged. "You're too young to go like this." He glanced sharply at Hunter. "Keep talking." Snatching his hat up he rushed downstairs to the others who had also begun to stir.  
"Hunter?" Danni asked in a thin whisper.  
"Anyone get the brand of the brahmin that hit me...?" Hancock asked groggily. Diane was red faced. "Whose hand is that!?"  
"I'm here, baby, I'm right here. Open your eyes, Danni. I'm right here and I'm not going anywhere." How was this possible? Danni had been drained by Tobias, as had the rest of them. How did the old man...THE DISC! Hunter stared, wide-eyed, at the disc on Danni's chest. Somehow, Tobias had used that object to absorb the lifeforce of the humans in the group. Hunter, Nick, and Danse hadn't been affected because they were Synths and the Thorn wasn't able to drain nutrients from them.  
"Come back to me, Danni. Come back, you can do it! I know you can!" He looked towards the stairs that Nick had descended. He hoped that the others were recovering just as Danni was. Fumbling for the disc Danni placed a hand upon its surface. It was bent from Hunter's deadly punch, but still functioned and began to hum.  
The six, as well as the armored knights murmured in confusion down below. Nick sped up the stairs "It's working. The disc has something to do with it."  
Danni coughed and opened her eyes. "You really took me by surprise." She smiled wryly.  
"I'm never stepping on a plant again." MacCready declared. "Diane? You alive."  
Supported by Preston Diane yawned as though waking from a pleasant nap. "I think so."  
"Good, your tab is still open. After this I think we could all use a drink. Or six."Cracking his neck Hancock dusted off his coat.  
"There's bound to be some stragglers. We can hold hands and kiss later."  
"' Thank you for saving my ass, Diane.' " said she. Hancock paused in the doorway, seemingly considering something, then left without another word. Nick pointedly moved away as Elder Maxson approached Tobias' body.  
"Pitiful man. He thought to cleanse the world with a power he didn't understand. Perhaps it began that way. What I wonder is, did the disc corrupt him or the other way around?"  
Looking down at his coat he extracted a black thorn- it was only the size of a fingernail but razor sharp. He considered it a moment then flicked it away.  
"We can only speculate." Nick said thoughtfully. The young commander regarded him but did not reply.  
Hunter smiled faintly. He was so relieved she was alive, the pain of her rejection had been temporarily muted. He lifted her up into his arms, cradling her to his chest. “Let’s go see everyone.” He made sure to retrieve his fallen pistol before he carried her downstairs.  
“Thank God all of you are all right,” said Hunter as soon as he laid eyes on them. His earlier feelings of hate towards humans had long since evaporated. He smiled fondly at them, Diane most of all. He set Danni down beside her.  
“Make sure she gets plenty of food and rest, Diane, if you would.” He turned to look at Elder Maxson and Paladin Danse. “Gentlemen..it was truly an honor to fight alongside you both. You’ve certainly changed mind about the Brotherhood of Steel. If I wasn’t a Synth, I’d join up in a heartbeat.” He looked at Preston. “I believe the Minutemen and the Brotherhood are the best hope for the Commonwealth.” He looked at Nick. “See you around, you old rustbucket.” He grinned. Nick smiled.  
"Take care, Hunter." Hunter then looked at Danni, opened his mouth to speak, and then closed it. There was nothing else that needed to be said between them. He nodded curtly. “It’s time I leave the Commonwealth. Maybe make my way to Rivet City in the DC.” He shrugged. “I’ll figure something out. Goodbye all.” He turned to leave.  
"What a mess." MacCready observed. "Screw this I'm outta here."  
"Bye, RJ. And thank you." Diane called after him. Turning, MacCready smiled and gave her little salute. "Hey Hancock, wait up!"  
"Is everyone alright?" Danse asked.  
"I think everything is where it's supposed to be. You?" Diane shrugged. She glanced at Maxson "Elder?"  
"As well as can be expected." Maxson descended the stairs, a hand pressed to his chest. A team of scribes rushed in "Tend to the wounded."  
"But sir-" One protested.  
"If things were different I would be proud to call you brother." Danse brought his fist to his heart. Maxson said nothing, only conferred with the scribes. The wounded, the dead, there were far too many. Diane closed her eyes. She'd have to account for the dead Minutemen soon, too.  
"I wonder how many we lost."  
Preston sighed. "Don't think about that now. " To Hunter he said "We've been given a chance thanks to you. "  
Danni held the disc, turning it in her hands. At Hunter's parting words she started up. "Hunter- I don't know what to say. It was a shock. It's still a shock. "  
"How did this thing even work?" Nick knelt beside Danni.  
"It's like...a key I guess. I wish I could have gotten my hands on it sooner. But that _thing_ was in my head."  
Nick sighed. "Don't beat yourself up. You pushed through it."  
"Kirkland." Maxson said suddenly. "I haven't dismissed you, yet."  
Hunter turned back to look at Danni before talking to the Elder. The look of loving tenderness that he had whenever he looked at her was gone. “You made your feelings quite clear, Daniella.” Danni said nothing, only hung her head.  
He looked away from her and stood before the Elder. “Yes, Elder Maxson?”  
"Both of you turned on a dime." Diane grumbled. "If this is all it takes to make your feelings go away your bond wasn't that strong now, was it?" Storming up to Hunter she said "Do forgive me." and slapped the human side of his face. "You feel that? If you care so much, then fight for her! "  
Hunter frowned at Diane and raised an eyebrow when she approached. “What are y-“ his head didn’t even jerk with the impact.  
"McKagan. " the Elder cut a sharp look at Diane. "We still have the Institute to contend with. We don't know where they are or how to get there. Any information you could offer would help."  
THREAT LEVEL BETA  
COMBAT SUBPROCESSORS ONLINE

Hunter rolled his eyes. 

Override command: stand down threat level. No hostiles in range.

COMMAND OVERRIDE ACCEPTED  
STANDING DOWN THREAT LEVEL

Diane's hand throbbed in pain. Seems she forgot he was in fact a machine. Preston sighed heavily. "You should have known that wasn't gonna do anything."  
“I’m not a person though, am I, Diane? I’m just a machine. Machines don’t have feelings, do they?” He looked at Danni and then back to the Elder. “While it would be going too far to say I’m loyal to the Institute, there are people I wouldn’t want to get hurt, mainly the one who spearheaded the HK project but...I don’t like most of things they’ve been doing. You can only access th-“

####ACCESS DENIED - AUTHORIZATION: AYO, JUSTIN####

Hunter tried to speak but something was stopping him. He sighed. “I’d love to help you, Elder Maxson, but it seems the Institute installed safeguards into my CPU to prevent their secrets falling into the wrong hands. I’ve been making some headway with breaking my encryption codes to disable my shutdown commands, but so far I haven’t managed to break them. I have my repair bay and diagnostics station back at my house in Diamond City. I can continue my work there and I’ll let you or Paladin Danse know the moment I’ve decrypted my CPU. That reminds me, I made a promise to Scribe Haylen that I’d show her my stealth module if I survived this catastrophe.” He hesitated for a moment. “I would like to ask one favor. I would like authorization to board the Prydwen one last time. Supervised, of course. I’ll understand if you don’t want a Synth aboard your vessel, but it really is an impressive piece of engineering, something I’ve never seen before. Also there’s something I’d like to discuss with Proctor Ingram if she’s willing to hear me out. It’s something I think she’d like. Just my way of repaying the Brotherhood for letting me live.”  
"Why are being so hurtful? You KNEW how I felt about synths yet you lied!" Danni shouted. "You kept me in blissful ignorance, what, you were waiting for the right time? And now I find out this way and you expect me to forgive you?"  
Diane facepalmed. "Restricted access. I should have known." She glanced nervously between Maxson and Hunter only to be elbowed as Danni made her exit. The disc needed to be destroyed and...she couldn't be near him anymore. It was like he'd torn a hole in her chest. Grandfather...  
"Miss Prower...!" Danse called.  
"Let her go, man." Preston said sadly.  
“Yeah I knew how you felt about Synths, that’s why I didn’t want to tell you right out. I loved you and yet you would have hated me just because I was a Synth. How would that have been fair to me? Yeah, I should have told you from the moment I met you, but I don’t go around announcing the fact I’m a Synth. And no, Danni, I don’t expect you to forgive me. I expect you to stop treating me like a fucking machine that has no feelings. If I didn’t have any feelings, we wouldn’t still be having this conversation. But fine, you do whatever you want. If I can’t count on you to show me a little understanding, who can I count on? This isn’t easy for me, you know. You have no idea what it’s like to be me.”  
Maxson seemed to be considering. He was tough to read but at last he said "You'll tell me what it is you wish to discuss first."  
He turned back to look at Elder Maxson. “Sorry about that, Elder. Anyway, what I want to discuss with Ingram is the possibility of giving her replacement legs. The Institute has made great strides in the field of biotechnology, as evidenced by the Synths. I can adapt some of their research into Synth tech and construct a pair of legs for Ingram. I may not know her well but it’s obvious she plays an important part in the Brotherhood.”  
"See, that should be what bioengineering should be used for." Diane said. "Imagine all the people we could help. It could change lives. "  
"That would be up to Ingram." Maxson concluded. "You may present the idea to her. You will be watched. You are not permitted to be onboard the Prydwen unless escorted by Paladin Danse or Knight McKagan. Is that clear?"  
"This is just...a lot to take in." Danni lingered in the doorway, ragged and dirty in her tattered robes. "Listen...thank you...all of you, for your help."  
"I'm sorry it had to end like this." Preston said.  
Danni hesitated. "So am I. I know you lost a lot of good people."  
"We'll honor their sacrifice." said Danse.  
"Hunter, I'm sorry. " Danni turned pained eyes toward him. "I have to go though. I have to destroy this disc. It's no good to anyone. And I...have to do some thinking."  
Hunter smiled a little grimly. “It’s a lot to take in for both of us. I’m still adjusting to this whole ‘love’ thing.” Far from being glad she was leaving, he seemed relieved that she at least would think over everything. “We both have to do some thinking, Danni. Just...don’t turn your back on the possibility of there being a you and me. And yeah, destroy that fucking thing. The sooner it’s in pieces, the easier I’ll breathe. In fact, would you allow me the pleasure of doing it?”  
He turned back to the Elder. “Yessir. Supervised by Danse or Diane, yessir.” He hesitated for a moment. “You’re a lot different in person than what I’ve been led to believe. You’re a good man, Elder Maxson.” He thought for a moment. “If the Brotherhood has any more need for me in the future, both Paladin Danse and Diane have my comm frequency. They can call me if they need me.”  
Turning the disc over in her hands Danni held it out to Hunter. "Destroy it completely. One less reminder of all the damage that was done."  
Maxson watched the couple with a mix of disgust and sympathy. Preston rubbed Diane' s shoulder. "You okay?"  
"Right as rain." She said, then bringing back a hand from under her armor sticky and red mumbled "Ahhh fuck." and sat down heavily. Danse beckoned the scribes over and Diane slapped their insistent hands away making inarticulate noises of annoyance before depositing herself onto the stretcher.  
Hunter nodded his head, giving Danni one last look. It would have to last him until she decided what she wanted to with the knowledge of Hunter being a Synth. He turned to watch Diane being taken away on a medical stretcher, sighing. _Stubborn idiot,_ he thought, smiling faintly to himself. He then turned to look at both Maxson and Preston. "She's...different. Obviously so since she is from a different time, but it feels to me as though she's hiding something. What that is I've no idea." He looked down at the disc in his hands. "It's strange...such a little thing caused so much devastation. I don't for one second believe Tobias was capable of creating this, and I'm reasonably certain the Institute had nothing to do with it.."  
Danni's eyes searched Hunter's for a time, then gathering the hem of her robe she fled.  
"She wouldn't hide anything." Preston said, more stubbornly than he intended. _Not from me._  
"McKagan is more than capable." Maxson turned to leave "I'm returning to the Prydwen. I expect to hear from you soon."  
Preston rubbed his face tiredly. "You could probably destroy it in a forge. It can't be that strong." They both watched the Elder depart. "I agree with you about Maxson. He's...determined, I'll give him that. "  
"If you need to contact me directly, Elder Maxson, you can do so at your leisure. Wherever I am in the Commonwealth, I'll hear it, but the closer I am to you the clearer it'll be. If I hear my head suddenly start to make crackling static-like noises, I'll know someone's trying to contact me." He looked down at the body of Tobias Prower. "I don't think we should just leave him lying here, as much as I'd like to. Hancock might complain. I can drag his ass out into the Wasteland and let nature do its thing." He smiled a little at Preston. "As for this disc, it only bent when I punched through the old man's chest, and I have about seven hundred pounds per square inch of force in each actuator built into my arms and shoulders. That tells me its fairly durable."  
"No one believed we could get the Prydwen off the ground let alone fly it all the way here. " Maxson watched the scribes take Diane outside. She gave him a thumbs up. "No one believes a woman from when the world was green slept two hundred years and woke up in the wasteland."  
"Then maybe it's time we reevaluated what we know." Preston finished.

 

A couple of months had passed since the climactic battle of Goodneighbor. The dead of Goodneighbor were buried in graves while the Reverent dead were taken outside of the city and burned. The gates to the city were repaired by volunteers and reinforced by Hunter. No one really knew much about the mysterious Raider killer who’d fought alongside Hancock. The aforementioned Synth had met with the ghoul mayor and asked to keep his identity a secret. After everything was said and done, Hunter left Goodneighbor under cover of night and with his stealth field engaged. He had made good on the promise to Scribe Haylen and he showed her how to exactly duplicate his built in stealth module. After asking about Diane, he left the Brotherhood of Steel territories and returned home to Diamond City, having retrieved his duffel bag he thought he had lost when the Alpha Deathclaw had bitten him in half. Now, however, he had brought two corpses of the invading Reverent and stuffed them into his duffel bag. He managed to get past the gate guards and into his house where he promptly stuck the bodies into his biorecombination chamber in the hidden repair bay in his house. In order to completely regenerate his biosynthetic skin, he had to provide the means to do so. He decided to leave it for the time being and step into his incinerator where all of his damaged  
skin and muscle was burned away, along with his remaining eye, ears, and nose, leaving him a metallic skeleton. He immediately set to work on decrypting his CPU. He took frequent breaks every night to go outside when the stars were visible. They reminded him of Danni. He let out a sigh. How was she doing? He hoped she was alright, but most of all he hoped she would come back to him. He loved her still, and her absence made him all the more lonely.  


At her request Diane was airlifted to Sanctuary to recover at her old house. From there she was able to continue to supervise operations in the settlements. Danse paid her frequent visits, often competing with Piper Wright for Diane's attention. Two weeks after the battle of Goodneighbor Publick Occurences published a story detailing the heroic combined efforts of the Minutemen and the Brotherhood, and the power of laying differences aside to achieve a common goal. Piper begged Diane and Danse to get her an interview with Elder Maxson, to no avail. Preston, after threats of handcuffing the general to bed (and not in the kinky fun way), took it upon himself to travel the settlements in her stead. Eventually he came across Danni who had taken it upon herself to care for the brahmin at Sunshine Tiding Co-op. He convinced her to get back in to trading and for a hefty sum of caps (and several bottles of whiskey or so it's said) hired her a pair of capable bodyguards: Robert Joseph MacCready and an ex pit fighter, Cait. Cait found the work 'borin' and smelly' and left to go start her own fighting arena. Still, Danni's thoughts were on Hunter. The spot where they met was on her route and every time the caravan passed through it she stopped, and wondered.  


MacCready took a long drag of his cigarette. "You done? We told Diane we'd have this ammo to Sanctuary by this afternoon."  
Blowing the smoke out his nostrils he threw down the butt and stepped on it. "Dan, we gotta go."  
She stood there, arms folded under her poncho. MacCready rubbed his eyes. "For cryin' out loud-" prodding the small of her back he said "Go, go." To the waiting train of pack brahmin and their handlers he called "Move 'em out!"  
The caravan started its slow steady pace. Danni watched them move ahead and only the growl of the annoyed merc helped her legs work again. She'd grown somewhat soft in her shorter routes and frequent hiatuses but now her legs were strong again, hard with well tested muscle. If she tried she could probably kick down a wall, she thought amused. Shouldering his sniper rifle MacCready walked two paces behind her. He was a slight man not much taller -or older- than she but already he had a hard look about him. He was all business around her, never talked about himself much. Danni knew he was from the Capital Wasteland like her but that was it.  
"MacCready?" She ventured.  
"Yeah, what is it?"  
"Do you think synths are people?"  
He grunted in reply.  
"Well?" She pressed.  
"That's a loaded question if I ever heard one."  
Danni quickened her pace. "It's a simple yes or no question."  
"Well then, yeah. Sure."  
She began to hum 'Someone To Watch Over Me.'


End file.
